First Bad Habit
by Among-Stars
Summary: Gabriella's always tried making the best of what she's got in life. When mysterious and seemingly all bad boy Troy crash lands into her life, the things she's wanted start to change. They always say to learn to love what's good for you, but what about what's bad for you? Is it right to love a bad habit? TxG. Rated M just in case for drug references and what may happen later on.
1. Chapter One

First Bad Habit

_**Yes, this story is titled after a song off of Vanessa's sophomore album because I started writing this when that first came out and the song has been my inspiration every day since. Enjoy!**_

**A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him.****  
-Brendan Francis**

Chapter 1

_Isabella Montez sighed as she wiped down the kitchen counter one final time. She had been cleaning up the leftover messes from the mutual parties that had occurred at the Montez household that night honoring both of her children, who were now safely tucked into bed._

_She glanced at the clock, seeing that it was already well past midnight and her husband still wasn't home. She had been hoping that he would show up since she reminded him when he left for work that morning about what events were supposed to happen that day, but she knew she should have never gotten her hopes up._

_After putting away the last of the dishes, throwing away the empty pizza boxes and wiping down all of the sticky surfaces, Isabella found herself leaning against the counter, hair falling out of the tight bun she tried to fit it all up into as the exhaustion showed clearly on her Hispanic features. She could hear the sound of the front door opening and closing minutes later along with footsteps heading in her direction._

_She stood tall and turned around, coming face to face with her husband, Joseph Montez. His suit jacket was hanging on his arm, his briefcase in one hand while the other worked to loosen the tie from around his neck as he unbuttoned his work shirt as if that was where he had previously came from. But Isabella knew better._

"_God, was work crazy today. How was your day baby," he asked, stepping over to kiss her, but when her head turned he knew this was not going to be a peaceful night. "What's wrong now Isabella? What have I done wrong now?"_

"_If you don't already know, then what's the point in telling you?"_

"_Damn it! What the hell do you want from me, huh?"_

"_I want you to want to be here! Spend time with your kids, act like you love them , and act like you love me! I know the last thing you want to do is be here with me, but at least be there for your children!"_

_Joe rolled his eyes, setting his briefcase down. "What are you going on about?"_

"_Do you know what happened today? Do you know what Andrew did or what Gabriella accomplished? No you don't, because you're too busy fucking your little whore of a secretary behind my back!" Isabella screamed at her husband. Little did either of them know, they had an audience a few feet away, sitting behind the wall on the stairs._

"_Excuse me?" An 11 year old Gabriella heard the voice of her father as she sat silently, not moving, witnessing another of the many arguments her parents had._

"_You heard me Joseph! I'm not stupid. You come home every night way past midnight when the office closes at 5. You take that little slut to dinner and then you go back to her apartment and then you have sex with her! And then you have to nerve to come back home and kiss me and climb into bed with me, smelling like her and acting like nothing ever fucking happened!"_

"_I don't know what you're…"_

"_Don't bullshit me Joseph! Gabriella had a dance recital today that you missed. She kept asking me when you would show up and I had nothing to tell her, nothing to say to make it better. And Andrew, he had a football game today and he made his first touchdown and when he asked me if you had seen it I had to tell him that you didn't come. You didn't even bother."_

_Gabriella felt a tear slip from where she was trying to hold it back as a hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up to see her 14 year old brother's solemn face as he sat next to her on the stairs._

"_Isabella, work has been hard okay. I am trying to support this family."_

"_By sleeping with your secretary? Is she paying you? Are you getting a raise? Because I'm not understanding. Joseph you don't even have to stay for me. You don't have to love me, you don't even have to stay with me. But I would hope that you would want to be there for your kids."_

"_Well maybe I'm just not into this life anymore."_

"_This life!?" Isabella exclaimed. "This is your life! Whether you like it or not. You should have thought about that 14 years ago before you got me pregnant!"_

"_I was 20 years old Isabella! You were 16! I wasn't even supposed to be seeing you at the time, what was I supposed to do, leave you alone to raise a baby by yourself?"_

"_If that's the only reason you asked me to marry you, then you can just take it back! 14 years and this is just coming out now?"_

_Joe nodded. "Yeah, 14 fucking years of my life that I wasted with you and this family!"_

_Gabriella sat, her head buried into Andrew's shoulder as her tears came silently at full force now._

_Isabella took a step back, tears pricking her eyes. "You don't mean that."_

_Joseph slammed his fist down on the counter, frustrated. "That's the problem, Isabella, I do! I regret that year so much. It was one year of my life that I wish night after night I could have taken back. I wish I would have never gone to that bar, I wish I would have never met you, never tricked myself into thinking I loved you, because all I did was make a huge mistake that I became stuck with. I never wanted this life and I regret all those decisions each and every day."_

_Isabella turned, hiding her face as she wiped her tears. "Are you happy now," he asked her. "Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm not happy, I don't want this life. I never wanted you or the kids, but once they happened, what was I supposed to do?"_

"_So why'd you stay? Why didn't you just say all this shit when I first got pregnant? Why didn't you leave after I had Andrew? Why the fuck did you get me pregnant again!?"_

_He shrugged, not being able to look her in her eyes. "I felt like it was an obligation. It was either stay with you or pay child support. I didn't have the money at the time."_

_She nodded, swallowing her tears as Gabriella and Andrew sat praying for a better ending than where this was headed. "So I was a last resort?"_

"_Honestly, yes. I've been cheating on you with Alyssa for 7 months now," he admitted, making a strangled cry come from his wife's throat. "I don't love you and I'm not sure I ever fully did and I don't want to live this life anymore."_

_As more tears fell from the 30 year old mother's eyes, she looked up at him with a hard look on her face. "Then leave."_

"_Excuse me, this is my home!"_

"_I SAID LEAVE! FUCKING GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE JOE!"_

"_Isabella…"_

"_FUCK YOU! I don't ever want to see your face again. Go live with your fucking whore. Pack all your shit and go!"_

_The two children hiding on the stairs could feel the hurt and anger radiating off of their mother as she screamed at the man they had once known as Dad to leave. They heard the silence that followed in which the 34 year old man turned and walked away from his wife, walking to the stairs. He stopped, seeing the two faces sitting on the staircase, not bearing to actually look at them._

_Isabella came behind him with a tear-streaked face, just as her children moved out the way for their father to go up the stairs. Gabriella immediately ran into her mother's arms, squeezing tightly, while Andrew stood tall by her side, as if he needed to protect her. Isabella could only stroke the head of her daughter and wrap her arm around the shoulders of her son as they listened to the sounds of Joseph packing a bag upstairs. When he came back down, he stopped at the entrance to the house, turning back and walking over to his children. He bent down to Gabriella's level, pressing a kiss to her forehead and then turned to press his hand to Andrew's cheek._

_Isabella kept her stone face as her husband stood up, looking at her once more before he turned and walked out the door. Never to come back again._

_As the door closed, Isabella felt her legs fall from under her as she tumbled to the ground in tears. With her kids immediately by her side, they all cried together. "It'll all be okay," she murmured to them through her tears. But they all knew it was far from it. This would never be okay._

~FBH~

A now 17 year old Gabriella Montez walked through the door of her home, dropping her bag near the hall table and hooking her keys back on the right key ring on the rack. "Mom! I'm home!" She called absent mindedly flicked through the stack of mail on the table. "Mom, you here?"

"In the kitchen," she heard the faint reply and she walked in catching her mom at the counter with a client. The woman was signing papers as her mother finished up her explaining of plans. "So I'll get this paperwork processed and I should have one of my decorators out by Tuesday. And I will call you with further information when I know."

Gabriella watched silently as the woman thanked her mother and acknowledged her before she disappeared out the front door and it became just her and her mom. "Hi, another deal closed?"

Isabella nodded, cleaning the papers off the counter and into a manila folder. "She's redecorating because her son officially moved out last week. Done with college and into his own apartment. Her husband passed a few years back so it's just her now and she's looking to make it her own, you know, be a bit selfish in her designs. But anyway, how was your day?"

Gabriella shrugged, setting the mail down on the counter for her mom to look at. "Just like yesterday. School, practice, and then home."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "There's got to be more than that sweetheart. Nine hours a day that you're out of this house most days and that's all there is to say? I don't believe that."

Gabriella sighed, knowing the routine and moving to the fridge. "Believe it."

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" came the sudden question from her mother.

She turned to look at her confused. "What? Why would you ask that? Of course I'm okay Mom. Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged, looking her daughter up and down. "I just…feel like there are a lot of things that could be better. I know with your dad and the…"

"Mom, trust me when I say, my life is fine."

Isabella looked at her daughter, seeing parts of herself in her. "Okay, I just know we've been through so much these last couple of years…"

"And the only reason we got through it is because of our amazing mother," Gabriella supplied. "I'm happy Mom, there's nothing more that I could want."

Gabriella kept eye contact with her, promising with her eyes that was okay and that everything was fine.

Her mother nodded, giving her a quick squeeze on the arm before disappearing upstairs to her room, leaving Gabriella in the kitchen alone. The younger woman then glanced at the wall, tears behind her eyes threatening to fall.

She didn't have the heart to tell her mother that she was right, although she knew she should, how could she after everything? After all they'd been through so much, Gabriella was surprised they were still together standing strong and she was grateful for that. She didn't want to test it; she wasn't about to ruin what they'd worked so hard to make better. She should have been happy right where she was but Gabriella couldn't shake the feeling of wanting, needing more.

She wanted to test her limits, she wanted to get her chance to be who she wasn't. She was ready to accept the changes, take some risks and see where it would land her but she feared it was too soon. Too soon to let go of herself and way too soon to jump into something she could possibly not be ready for.

Gabriella's life wasn't slowing down, it was moving ahead fast, speeding into a vortex of things she couldn't handle and the coming months ahead would be the ones that would matter the most.

_**Gabriella's outfit link is in profile under new story title! Don't forget to leave a REVIEW! A lot of people add me to favorites and alerts, but please understand that reviews mean a lot to me and I'll be looking for a certain amount of them before I post again, so please please please, if you're taking the time to add me to your lists, just review as well even if it is just "Good" or "Nice" or something that let's me know you like it. THANKS!**_


	2. Chapter Two

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

_As more tears fell from the 30 year old mother's eyes, she looked up at him with a hard look on her face. "Then leave."_

"_Excuse me, this is my home!"_

"_I SAID LEAVE! FUCKING GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE JOE!"_

"_Isabella…"_

"_FUCK YOU! I don't ever want to see your face again. Go live with your fucking whore. Pack all your shit and go!"_

_As the door closed, Isabella felt her legs fall from under her as she tumbled to the ground in tears. With her kids immediately by her side, they all cried together. "It'll all be okay," she murmured to them through her tears. But they all knew it was far from it. This would never be okay._

**xx**

"_Okay, I just know we've been through so much these last couple of years…"_

"_And the only reason we got through it is because of our amazing mother," Gabriella supplied. "I'm happy Mom, there's nothing more that I could want."_

**xx**

_The family had been through so much, Gabriella was surprised they were still together standing strong as one, but she was grateful for that and hoped that she could be a factor in keeping it that way._

**Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives****  
-C.S. Lewis**

Chapter 2

Gabriella sat, her legs crossed, tapping her pencil on the desk as she waited impatiently for the bell to ring. It was the last class before lunch and she was itching to get away and just be with her friends for a little bit. Any more of teachers throwing work at her and she was going to go crazy. Shooting up as soon as the bell rang, Gabriella made her way to the locker to meet her best friend. When she turned the corner, Taylor McKessie was already standing there, a bright smile on her face.

"Took you long enough. Ready?" Gabriella nodded and they fell into step together, Taylor noticing the quietness of her friend. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired I guess. It's been a long week and I ready for it to be over with."

"Tell me about it," Taylor responded. "And it's only Wednesday. Talk about cruel."

"Yeah, Chemistry is definitely kicking my butt too."

Taylor rolled her eyes at this statement. "Oh please, you're actually good at Chemistry; you shouldn't have a problem."

Gabriella smiled. "That doesn't mean I don't hate it. It's still a ton of work that I don't have the patience for."

"Oh, save it for someone who is actually terrible at Chemistry…like me!"

Gabriella giggled. "You're not terrible, Tay. You'll get it eventually," she answered, suddenly cut off when she bumped into something hard. "Ouch!"

The object turned around, grabbing her arm, steadying her as she tried to find out what happened. She rubbed her shoulder as she looked up to see spiky almost black hair and the bluest ocean blue eyes she had ever seen. Troy Bolton looked down at the petite girl he had collided with, an unreadable look on his face. "Were you looking?" he questioned her sharply.

"Excuse me?! You act like that was completely my fault."

Troy raised his eyebrow at the attitude the girl had used when she spoke back to him. "Whatever. I'm sorry. No one's hurt? Then good, we can move on from this attitude problem you have." He turned to walk away, but Gabriella wasn't about to let it go that easily.

She scoffed, folding her arms across her chest as she faced his back. She shot a look of disbelief at Taylor, who just shrugged and made the smart choice to stay out of it. "I do not have an attitude problem, you're just a jerk."

"Quit while you're ahead," he called back as he walked away from her still. "You know nothing about me."

"Well neither do you, so how can you just assume that I have an attitude problem?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm done talking."

"As if! I'm not!," she spoke stubbornly.

He groaned, stopping and turning to face her. "Clearly, I can see that. Seriously what do you want?

"I want to know what your problem is."

"Don't have one," he replied simply. "Are we done now? I really have no desire to be here."

Gabriella didn't know what else to say to him following that. "I.. I don't…"

"Thanks a lot, I've got places to be," he informed her before finally turning and walking off in the direction of where he needed to be.

Gabriella stood speechless as Taylor joined her side. "As if you didn't already figure it out, that's the legendary Troy Bolton."

"What's his deal?"

Taylor shrugged. "No one knows but the kids he hangs out with. He's super secretive and super quiet when it comes to most things. Most people don't mess with him, which is why I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger blow up on you."

"So what, people are scared of him?"

"You've been here how long, Gabs? You should have at least met him once by now."

Gabriella shrugged. "Guess that was my once, but I don't get what's so special about him."

"Beats me. Maybe it's the mystery. You know girls like those mysterious bad boys. And Bolton is definitely both of those."

"Bad boy?"

"Mhmm," Taylor nodded, a quick glance at her best friend. "And don't get any ideas. Curiosity killed the cat."

Gabriella ignored the underlying message from her friend as the bell rang and she went on to class. "Cats have nine lives, Tay. It's perfectly fine."

Taylor rolled her eyes, figuring Gabriella would say something similar to that and continued to her class as well. That girl was something special, that's for sure.

~FBH~

Gabriella sat at the kitchen table with her laptop later that night while her mom worked on dinner. Andrew Montez walked into the house, his bag trailing behind him.

"Hey Mama," he called out, walking in and giving his mom a quick kiss. "Gabs."

"Hey honey, more laundry?"

"You know it," he grinned at her. "What are you doing," he asked his sister, peering over her shoulder at her laptop screen.

"Hey!" she replied, her hand shutting the screen as she glared at her brother. "Stop being nosey."

Drew rolled his eyes at her defensiveness. "Well hello to you too, my darling sister."

"Would you like something?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"Nope," Drew surrendered, holding his hands up as he backed away from her, taking his bag toward the direction of the laundry room. "I guess I'll just do my laundry and go then, since I'm not wanted here."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Isabella smirked at the interaction of her kids as she mixed the pot of beef stew on the stove. "So classes going well Drew?"

"Sure," he called back from the laundry room.

"That means he's flunking out," Gabriella commented from her seat at the table.

"Shut up!" Drew said walking back into the kitchen and bumping his sister.

"Ow, you imbecile. Don't touch me."

"Blah, blah, blah," He responded, looking over her shoulder at the conversation she was having with her best friend. "Tell Taylor to tell Kelly I said hey."

"Go away!" She shouted, pushing his shoulder away from her.

He laughed. "It was a simple request to say hello."

"Only because you desperately want to get into her pants," Gabriella snorted, making her mother raise her eyebrows.

Drew turned around to his mother. "She's joking. I don't want to get into anyone's pants."

"Yeah, best give up those dreams now, because it'll never happen. Taylor says so herself."

Drew bumped her again. "That's insulting. I'm sure Kel thinks I'm cute."

Gabriella turned to look at her brother. "Why…would she think…you of all people to be….cute? She's on a whole different level than you. "

"She's a mature woman who…makes me very attracted to her…"

"She's Taylor's sister, that's so gross." Gabi says turning back to her conversation with Taylor.

Drew leans over her shoulder once again. "Whatever, hate all you want to." There was an awkward silence while he read her conversation and then furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Troy Bolton? Why are you talking about him?"

"Drew, go away!"

"Not before you tell me why you're talking about Bolton."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you even know him?"

"Don't worry about it," he covered. "I just know that whatever it is that you have to do with him, it better end."

Isabella turned to her children, curious about the sudden turn in the topic of conversation. "What's so wrong about this guy," she asked her son.

Drew seemed uncomfortable put in the spotlight to explain his reasoning's. "He's just not such a great kid."

"How do you know?" Gabriella asked him accusingly.

"I just know, okay. Stay away from him please."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and closed her laptop. "Whatever, I'm going upstairs."

Isabella frowned. "What about dinner?"

"I'm not hungry," the teenager replied solemnly before disappearing to her room.

Her mother then turned to Drew, a little upset. "Why do you have to do that to her?"

Drew's eyebrows rose. "Do what?!"

"Mess with her like that. You know she hates it when you try and control her life."

"I'm not trying to…" he trailed off, seeing the look on his mother's face. "Well what else am I supposed to do? Dad's obviously not here to do it."

Isabella sighed, running a hand over her face and turning away from her son. "I get that, but you're not her father, you're her brother. Remember that. Now go ahead and finish your laundry, dinner will be done in a half hour."

Drew sighed, knowing that it was pointless to argue anymore with his mother. It wasn't that he was trying to be a father to his sister, but he would be a fool to ignore that they'd gone through enough drama already as a family. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to come into their lives and hurt his sister as their father had.

So as he walked away to go finish laundry as his mother had instructed, he wondered offhandedly about the thoughts running through his sister's mind. She was stubborn, he knew that and the more he told her not to do someone, the more she was going to do just the opposite of what he said. Unfortunately he had a past with Troy and due to his experiences, he was the last person he wanted his sister to have affiliations with. For now, it looked like he would have to keep a close eye to make sure she didn't dig herself into a hole she couldn't get out of.

_**Well hello! So I know this took a while, and I take full responsibility, but I'm still getting used to my job and school at the same time. I'm getting some of it down, but bear with me and I'm sure I won't be using it as an excuse anymore once October gets here. Which, btw, happy September everyone!**_

_**So now that you've read, do me a favor-hit that REVIEW button and tell me what you thought! Thanks for reading!**_


	3. Chapter Three

_**Hey! So I know it's been a while - longer than a month...possibly longer than 2 months now. But I'm working on getting my life together. I'm balancing work, school, typing and idk if you have ever heard of the saying "You want sleep, good grades, and a social life. In college, you pick 2." It seems like depending on the week I'm sacrificing something different. Anyway, I'm going to try to update more frequently because one update every few weeks is so slack and I really do miss my stories. It's gotten to a point that I've almost forgotten and have to refresh myself to be updated on what I'm writing and if you think you don't like that, well neither do I.**_

**_So I appreciate all the support while I try to balance this new hectic part of my life. Without further ado, enjoy Chapter 3!_**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_I want to know what your problem is."_

"_Don't have one," he replied simply. "Are we done now? I really have no desire to be here."_

_Gabriella didn't know what else to say to him following that. "I.. I don't…"_

"_Thanks a lot, I've got places to be," he informed her before finally turning and walking off in the direction of where he needed to be._

_Gabriella stood speechless as Taylor joined her side. "As if you didn't already figure it out, that's the legendary Troy Bolton."_

"_What's his deal?"_

_**xx**_

"_Troy Bolton? Why are you talking about him?"_

"_Drew, go away!"_

"_Not before you tell me why you're talking about Bolton."_

_She narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you even know him?"_

"_Don't worry about it," he covered. "I just know that whatever it is that you have to do with him, it better end."_

* * *

_**At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.**_

_**-Plato**_

* * *

_Chapter 3_

Gabriella sat in the library by herself the next day at school, thinking of just exactly what it was that was bothering her about bumping into Troy the previous day. It was strange that his presence had startled her so much, to the point where she was steady thinking and over thinking the situation. What was it about him? Just the reaction from both Taylor and Drew had her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she couldn't shake the feelings that made her thoughts run wild.

"Someone looks very, very deep in thought," Taylor commented as she appeared at the table Gabriella had situated herself at with boyfriend in tow and dropped her bag before sitting, Chad following her lead.

She shook her head. "Uh, yeah tons of homework."

Chad snorted. "Since when does the Gabstinator have to worry about homework? You ace EVERYTHING!"

She looked down at her lap with a shy smile. "You know me, freaking out about the G.P.A."

"As usual," Taylor teased. "You have nothing to worry about though."

The Latina stayed silent, quickly alarming her best friend. "What's wrong?"

Gabriella looked up. "Nothing, I'm fine."

Taylor studied her face, not believing a single word. "Is this about yesterday?"

Chad's interest was suddenly peaked. "What happened yesterday?"

"Don't worry about it," Gabriella attempted to cover up, but Taylor was quick to give a real answer.

"She bumped into Troy Bolton and ever since that's all she's been able to think about, I'm sure."

Gabriella groaned as Chad shook his head. "Bolton? Since when are you talking to Bolton?"

Gabriella shrugged. "We weren't really even talking, its not a big deal."

"So why are you acting like this?" Taylor questioned.

Gabriella scoffed. "Like what, Tay? I honestly don't see the big deal."

Chad eyed her cautiously, gauging her reaction as he spoke. "Troy doesn't exactly have the best reputation around here."

"Well a reputation is just a reputation right? There's not always truth to everything you hear."

"I don't know Gabs, I've seen and heard some pretty wild things."

"Well what exactly has he done? I feel like everyone's had the same reaction to him, but no one can explain why."

"He's not a good guy…"

"Did he hurt someone?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Then what is it?" When neither of them answered, but only looked back at her she, folded her arms across her chest, clearly catching an attitude now. "Seriously, I don't get it. No one can give me a good enough reason why I shouldn't talk to Troy. And obviously, if there isn't a reason, why should I listen to a word anyone says."

By now, she had gotten the attention of the librarian, who was quick to shush her from behind the desk.

"Gabi, please," Taylor tried to convince her friend. "Just listen to us just this once. We know what we're talking about."

She shook her head. "How can you say that? Do you even know him? Who's to say that he's not a really great guy but he's just totally misunderstood. You and everyone else who' said something about him seem to think he's a criminal or something. Until someone can explain this to me, I'm not listening to anything any of you has to say. All your warnings are falling on deaf ears because I'm not interested."

"Miss. Montez!" came the shrill whisper of the librarian who had come over to their table with a second warning for the girl.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," Gabriella announced, grabbing her stuff and exiting with an attitude, leaving Chad and Taylor sitting at the table with the librarian looming over them. They looked to each other in awe, knowing that whatever it was that Gabriella was going to do next, was definitely not on a list of good.

~FBH~

Gabriella walked in a huff all the way to a private stairwell that was on the back end of school.

"Ugh!" She groaned, throwing her bag against the wall as she glanced around at her surroundings angrily.

"You seem angry," a voice spoke, making her jump and turn around to face the speaker, a little bit of surprise coming to her at seeing Troy Bolton himself on the stairwell, a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"No shit Sherlock," she mumbled, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall across from him.

He nodded, taking a drag from his cigarette before blowing the smoke in her general direction. "You okay?"

"What do you think?" She snarled at him before waving her hand around to clear the smoke. "Can you not give me lung cancer? Thanks."

"Sorry," he rolled his eyes replying in a monotone voice as he continued to smoke. There was an awkward silence that consisted of Gabriella staring at Troy while he continued taking drags and turned his head to avoid blowing in her face.

After a few more silent minutes of smoking and sulking, Gabriella caught his eye. "So…what's wrong with you?"

"Me?" he asked, a look of confusion crossing his face. "Why would you think something's wrong?"

She scoffed. "You're smoking in the back stairwell and you're telling me something's not up?"

He chuckled. "This is a normal for me. It's you that looks like she has the problem. What's wrong with you?"

Gabriella bit her lip, not meeting his gaze as he seemed to be finishing up his cigarette.

"It's okay if you don't wanna tell me. I'm not exactly the best listener anyway."

She sighed. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Just did."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I," he smirked, seeing the look that crossed her face. "What is it?"

"Why don't people like you?"

He looked at her as if this were a surprise to him. "People don't like me? Wow!"

"Be serious!"

"So serious!" he answered, fiening shock.

She groaned. "Why am I even here talking to you?"

He shrugged. "Why are you?" Troy could feel the anger radiating off her, but for some reason, making and seeing her angry amused him.

"You just don't get it do you?"

He shook his head. "You came here asking me questions remember? I was here first, minding my business and suddenly you come up all angry and pissed off from whatever the fuck happened before you got here and you wanna take it out on me?"

"I'm not taking it out on you," she tried to defend herself.

He rolled his eyes, already a little annoyed. "Yeah? Then what are you doing here?"

She looked away from him and he could tell she was frustrated. "I just want answers!" she exclaimed.

"Answers to what?"

She sighed. "Everything. It's just…so confusing at this point. I don't know what I want."

"And how exactly do I fit into this equation?"

"I don't know!" she answered exasperated and then she looked up to meet his expectant face. "I…I'm sorry. I guess I'm just…"

"Looks like you really do have a problem.

Her silence after that made Troy stand up, taking this as his cue to leave. He moved a little closer to her, a somewhat concerned look on his face. "You gonna be okay?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Why do you care?"

"Can't have someone find you here crying or something and then blame it on me, ya know?" he smirked at her, making her roll her eyes. "But you're right; why should I care?"

She watched as he started to walk toward the exit door from the stairs and had to hide the smile that she wanted to let take over her face. "Hey Troy?"

He turned, raising his eyebrows without saying a word.

"You're not as bad as people think you are," she admitted.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Don't spread that around."

She kept her eyes on him as he walked off, the door to the stairs slamming behind him as she let her mind wander into exactly what her next move with him was going to be.

Not once did she ever think to stay away, not even now.


	4. Chapter Four

_**If any of you are readers of No Good you have already read this speech, but here it is again!**_

_**It's been a while...months upon months upon months with no updates at all from me and for that I am beyond sorry for my little hiatus. Hopefully people still remember who I am at this point. So school was kicking my butt and on top of that I got two jobs. I'm learning to balance a little bit better and I can't promise frequent updates but maybe once a week at the least. There are no other explanations for why I haven't updated except for I let my life and the busy part of it get the best of me but time management is key and I honestly miss writing so I'm making a point to get back at it.**_

_**So with that said, I give you Chapter 4 of First Bad Habit and I do sincerely hope I still have readers out there who will be kind enough to still send me some reviews. Thanks!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Gabi, please," Taylor tried to convince her friend. "Just listen to us just this once. We know what we're talking about."_

_She shook her head. "Until some can explain this to me, I'm not listening to anything any of you has to say. All your warnings are falling on deaf ears because I'm not interested."_

**xx**

_She watched as he started to walk toward the exit door from the stairs and had to hide the smile that she wanted to let take over her face. "Hey Troy?"_

_He turned raising his eyebrows without saying a word._

"_You're not as bad as people think you are," she admitted._

_He chuckled, shaking his head. "Thanks, just…don't let that get around."_

**Be of love a little more careful than of anything**

** -E.E. Cummings**

Chapter 4

Taking a chance, the next day during lunch hour, Gabriella made it her mission to find Troy. She'd completely avoided Taylor pretty much since she had last seen her yesterday, having thought long and hard about her decisions, deciding that this was 100% what she wanted to do.

It had been easier than she had thought to find Troy, but when she went back to the stairwell from the day before, there he was with another cigarette and a sandwich. She stood in the doorway, watching him for a moment before she let the door slam behind her, catching his attention.

He sighed, instantly, blowing a puff of smoke away from her before glancing with an annoyed look to her petite frame. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Looking for you."

He shook his head. "Why?"

Once again, she shrugged, this time moving over to sit beside him on the stairs. "No idea."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Damn, Gabriella, seriously?"

She was taken aback for a moment, but recovered quickly. "What?!"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

She swallowed nervously, afraid of him getting angry. "Making a new friend."

He blew out some air. "Why?"

She smiled shyly. "I want to be friends with you."

He scoffed, putting out his cigarette. "No you don't, you want to fix me."

"Fix you?"

"Yeah, like get into my fucking mind and figure out why I do the things that I do and why I am the way I am. I'll save you the trouble; I'm a fucking lost cause okay?"

"I don't believe that."

"What is with you? Go away!"

"No."

"Gabriella," his voice warned, causing her to tense at the tone but she stood her ground.

"Want some pretzels?" she asked, trying to change the subject as she reached into her bag somewhat nonchalantly.

He groaned. "No I don't want any pretzels. Why are you so persistent?"

"I want what I want. And I want to get to know you. It would be nice if you would give me a chance."

"Look whatever physcotic experiment you're trying, give it up now. I'm not a head case and I'm not some fucking toy that you can play with. I'm not interested in making any new friends, got it?"

With that he got up to leave, but she called out to him, standing up as well. "I'm not experimenting!"

"Well then, you're too goddamn curious for your own good. Leave me alone!"

"I'm not going to," she argued back to him, seeing the flash of gray in his eyes, but he said nothing else, just leaving the stairwell. It was then that Gabriella hoped she made the right decision.

~FBH~

"MOM!" Gabriella called into the kitchen that afternoon after school.

"I'll be down in a minute," she heard her call back from upstairs, before she saw her brother at the table with a bowl of cereal and the newspaper. "It's 3:46 in the afternoon, you know?"

He shrugged. "Yeah and?"

She rolled her eyes as her mother walked into the kitchen. "What's up, honey?"

"I've got some questions for you."

"Shoot."

"How do you know what a guy really feels for you?"

Drew's head shot up, eyes moving from the paper to the back of his sister's head. "What?"

"I was talking to Mom," she sang out annoyed, not turning her head to face him.

"But this…"

"Drew, hush," Isabella cut him off before turning her attention back to her youngest child. "Why…is there someone I should know about?"

Gabriella shook her head. "Not really, I just…I talk to this guy and he's so confusing. I feel like nothing he says really means what he says. I feel like he speaks in code or something. How do I figure him out?"

Isabella smiled at the thought of her daughter coming to her for serious boy advice. It seemed like ever since the incident with her father, Gabriella had given up on pretty much all guys in a relationship way. It made sense, but her mother had only hoped that she wouldn't keep that attitude forever and from the sound of it, she wasn't.

"Honey, boys are…complicated."

Gabriella nodded in understanding. "Yeah, very," she answered, sending a quick glance over to Drew, who rolled his eyes with a sigh, trying not to listen, but obviously, not very hard.

"Sweetheart, whoever this guy is, I think you should just talk to him. Find out what he's feeling, because believe me there's no way to decode the way a guy thinks. They say a woman's mind is like a maze, but it's nothing compared to the way guys think."

"We're not that bad!" Drew added from his spot at the table. "We're simple minded."

Isabella rolled her eyes at her son. "And that's exactly why! Simple minded men who only think about a few things. They're so simple, they're complex."

Gabriella giggled, playing with the bowl of fruit that was sitting on the counter. "So no matter what I do, he's going to be complicated?"

"Most guys are. But it depends how close you get, and that depends on how close you want to get or how close he'll let you get."

"Better not be any closer than a foot away," Drew mumbled, taking his bowl of cereal to the sink.

Isabella glanced over at her son. "That's my job, Andrew. Let me be the protective parent here."

"Fine," he replied, hands up in surrender. "I've got plans to attend anyway." He moved to kiss his mothers' cheek and ruffle Gabriella's head. "Goodbye my lovely ladies."

Gabriella face fell in disgust as he touched her head and she quickly went to fix it as Isabella smirked while watching him leave. "He's such an idiot," the younger woman in the room commented.

"He's your brother…he's supposed to be. At least I have one good child," she smiled, wrapping her arms around her daughter and feeling her arms hug back.

"I can still hear you!" Drew yelled back to them, having not left yet, but searching for his car keys in the living room.

"I love you!" Isabella called back simply.

There was the sound of more grumbling from Drew along with the sound of his keys as he found them and then the slam of a door, leaving the two laughing.

~FBH~

Gabriella was sitting in homeroom the next week trying to study the figure secluding himself in the corner of the room by the window. It had been just a few days ago after her encounter with Troy on the stairwell that she realized he actually was in a few of her classes, homeroom included. How she didn't notice him before was a mystery, but then again, he as a whole was a mystery.

The brunette female watched as he sat in his desk, shrugging off the hood of the grey sweatshirt he was donning with jeans and converses on this rainy Friday. Headphones were trailing from his ear away from the teacher down into the pocket of his sweatshirt as he alternated between staring out the window and looking down at his cell phone strategically positioned in his lap so that Mrs. Saunders would not notice, however good she claimed her vision was.

Biting her lip and not taking her eyes off of his muscular frame, she wondered who he was texting, what type of music he was listening to in his right ear, what he could possibly be thinking right now. She sighed into her hand, not seeing the look Taylor was sending from her left.

"If you keep that up, you'll start to be obvious….as if you're not already," her friend commented in a whisper and Mrs. Saunders outlined just what the rest of the year would mean for the upcoming seniors sitting in front of her.

Gabriella snapped her head away from staring to see Taylor's emotionless face. "You're actually talking to me?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "You're the one who stormed away and hasn't bothered to pick up the phone and call me since!"

The stubbornness in Gabriella caused her to shrug. "It's not like you would have listened to anything I had to say anyway. You think I'm being stupid."

"I do! But that doesn't change that you're my best friend Gabriella, I'm not going to ignore you, especially not while you're making such a stupid decision…" Taylor replied, leaning closer to Gabriella.

"Yet and still, no one had explained why this decision is stupid! What is it that is so wrong with him?"

Their voices had risen slightly and Ms. Saunders rose her eyebrows in their direction. "Gabriella, Taylor, do you ladies have something to share?"

Taylor quickly pulled her body back. "No, sorry Ms. Saunders."

She gave them both a pointed look as the few stray eyes that had been paying attention to her focused their eyes on the two girls. "Well then if everything is okay, I expect you both to pay attention."

After she got back into her lecture, Taylor leaned back over to Gabriella. "Gabi, I'm here for you okay. I don't want to criticize you and I don't want to lose you as a friend. I just want you to be careful. Truthfully, no one knows anything personal about Troy, so if you plan to do what I think you want to, be careful because there's no telling what secrets you're going to uncover."

Gabriella glanced at her before looking over at Troy again. He was typing on his phone and looked up to meet her eyes. After an intense stare down for about a minute or two, the steaming blue eyes forced his head away from her and she narrowed her eyes at his actions.

Be careful? Yeah, right. She was going to figure out the mystery that was Troy Bolton.


	5. Chapter Five

**_I know it's been a while since you guys have heard from me and I want to deeply apologize for that. I've been going through a lot in the past couple of months and speeding down a path to destruction. I had to learn to cut out some of the bad things in my life, the things that were stressing me out and holding me back and I finally did, no matter how hard it might have been to let those things go. And as a part of getting back to becoming me and doing things for myself before others again, I had to get back to my writing. It's the one thing that makes me whole and sane when the rest of my world falls apart. So hopefully I still have my readers support and love as I bring myself back to where I was before my life took dangerous turns. I chose to update this story first as I am getting rid of my own bad habits. So without anymore rambling, I want to thank anyone who is still here, ask you to please review at the end of the chapter and here is First Bad Habit Chapter 5._**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Look whatever physcotic experiment you're trying, give it up not. I'm not a head case and I'm not some fucking toy that you can play with. I'm not interested in making any new friends, got it?"_

_With that he got up to leave, but she called out to him, standing up as well. "I'm not experimenting!"_

"_Well then, you're too goddamn curious for your own good. Leave me alone!"_

"_I'm not going to," she argued back to him, seeing the flash of gray in his eyes, but he said nothing else, just leaving the stairwell. It was then that Gabriella hoped she made the right decision._

**xx**

_The stubbornness in Gabriella caused her to shrug. "It's not like you would have listened to anything I had to say anyway. You think I'm being stupid."_

"_I do! But that doesn't change that you're my best friend Gabriella, I'm not going to ignore you, especially not while you're making such a stupid decision…" Taylor replied, leaning closer to Gabriella._

"_Yet and still, no one had explained why this decision is stupid! What is it that is so wrong with him?"_

**xx**

"_Gabi, I'm here for you okay. I don't want to criticize you and I don't want to lose you as a friend. I just want you to be careful. Truthfully, no one knows anything personal about Troy, so if you plan to do what I think you want to, be careful because there's no telling what secrets you're going to uncover."_

_Be careful? Yeah, right. She was going to figure out the mystery that was Troy Bolton._

**Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.****  
-Lao Tzu**

Chapter 5

Gabriella had been standing at her locker later that day, grabbing her books for her classes that were after lunch when a hand appeared, caging her in front of her locker between the body and the open door. It hadn't startled her as she continued looking into her locker, not bothering to turn around to meet the face of who she already knew it was. "What's wrong now," she asked, tilting her head before reaching in to grab her biology book.

"I want to know what you're up to," his husky voice spoke into her ear.

"What makes you think I'm up to something," she questioned, still preoccupied with the books in her locker.

"You said it yourself yesterday. I have a feeling whatever you're up to; you're not giving up until you get it."

Smirking, Gabriella turned to face him finally, but he didn't move from his position caging her so their bodies ended up closer than she predicted. With a swallow, she pushed all hormonal thoughts from her head and met his stare. "Well at least you know I won't stop until I'm satisfied."

His hard face continued to stare upon her seemingly innocent one. "You're starting to piss me off…"

"Why because I'm the only one that actually cares enough. Is it really that bad that someone wants to be your friend?"

"I don't have friends."

"So why not start making them?"

Shaking his head, he sighed. "If I was going to make friends, trust me, you would not be my first choice."

Looking down, Gabriella scanned the floor before speaking. "Thanks for that."

"Does that mean you're going to leave me alone?"

"No," she answered as if it were obvious, making him grown and start to walk away. Gabriella quickly shut her locker to follow behind him. "Why can't you just accept that someone wants to get to know you?"

"Because you don't want to get to know me, you want to figure out what no one else knows about me, just so you can say you got close to Troy Bolton," he grumbled to her, continuing down the hall without looking at her.

"That's…that's not what I…why would you think that?"

Hearing the way she reacted, he stopped and turned to her shrugging. "Isn't that what everyone wants? To get to know who Troy Bolton is? I'm the guy that doesn't talk to people, doesn't have friends, or share my life story with anyone. Isn't everyone just dying to know my secret, what I'm hiding?"

Gabriella shrugged, a sincere look crossing her face at the confession as she looked at him. "Maybe that's what other people are thinking, but I…I'm not trying to expose you, I just…I'm fascinated I guess."

He scoffed. "By what?"

"By you. You're different and definitely not like other guys I've met and I for some reason, something in me wants to get to know you."

She saw the hardness in his jaw and the cold look in his eyes soften as he looked at her. "Because I'm sure I'm not like any of those preppy jocks, think they own the school because their parents are rich, and get all the girls type of guys."

She shrugged. "Nobody said you had to be."

"What do I have to do to make you go away?"

"Let me get to know you," she answered easily, making him roll his eyes with the notion that she was going to answer with that.

"Whatever. Meet me in the park after school. 4:30 and don't bring anybody please."

"Wasn't thinking about it," she sent him a small smile.

"And please stop smiling like I just asked you out on a date."

Her smiled dropped and she bit her lip to keep it from coming back. "Sorry."

"And just…don't…don't be strange."

"Not making any promises."

He groaned, shaking his head and walking away. "What the hell am I thinking," he told himself, not catching the successful grin that spread across Gabriella's face behind his back as she couldn't contain the excitement in her face.

Definitely a break-through.

~FBH~

Gabriella couldn't contain her excitement that afternoon at the park, she was beyond excited at this point and it was driving Troy crazy. He had agreed to meet her here and it was only 4:33 and he was regretting ever coming.

"So…what made you change your mind?"

He shrugged. "You're annoying factor."

"I have an annoying factor?" she questioned.

"Yeah," he answered obviously. "And just like your excitement factor, it's off the charts right now."

"Am I not allowed to be excited?"

"For what? Gabriella you…"

"If you're going to do this all afternoon, then you might as well go home," she said, teasingly.

His eyes widened and he nodded. "Great, no problem."

As he went to dash off, she reached out and gripped his arm, the first touch igniting a spark that made Gabriella immediately jump back, staring at him. "Uh…Oh, I wasn't being serious. Please stay."

Stunned by the feeling that had crossed him when she grabbed his arm, he nodded without another word and they started walking again down the park path.

After a few moments of silence, she bit her lip. "Are you not going to talk to me?"

He shrugged. "Talk about what? You wanted to get to know me or whatever."

"Well you invited me here."

"Only because you wouldn't shut up."

She sighed. "Well, tell me your full name, then."

He shook his head. "Why would I tell you that?"

The groan that came from her throat was a little unexpected. "You are so difficult."

He smirked. "No one said it would be easy, princess."

Her eyes narrowed; she stopped and pushed her finger to his chest. "Don't call me that!"

"Oh," he chuckled. "I see we have a weakness here. I kind of like the name though…"

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

"What, you're chickening out now? You're going to leave because something's not going your way?"

"You don't know me!"

"Yeah, well tables are turned now? How does it feel?"

"Stop it."

"If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen, princess," he spoke with a teasing grin.

"I said, don't call me that."

The grin on his face became even wider at her discomfort. "What's wrong…princess?"

As if a blood vessel popped in the young brunette's head, her face turned read as she snapped. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Startled at her outburst, Troy sucked in a breath, staring at her as she tried to calm down. "You know NOTHING about me! And I've told you twice to stop fucking calling me princess, you prick! Just…fuck all of this forget I even wanted to be your friend! Now I understand why no one wants to talk to you! ASSHOLE!" And that was all she had to say before she stormed away, Troy left to shrug his hood back onto his head, stick his hands in his pockets and walk away.

~FBH~

"He's an ass, Taylor! I can't believe I ever wanted to figure out his story," Gabriella complained on the phone the next afternoon, lying across her bed on her stomach.

"I didn't want to say it, Gabi," her best friends' voice came in from over the phone line.

"Go ahead and say it. I should have known it was coming," she answered back, depressed.

"Gabi, it's not your fault. He's just not…the friendly type. It was nice of you to try."

"Oh, please. It was stupid of me to try."

"You're not stupid. You were curious."

Gabriella scoffed. "And that's the last time I'll act on that curiosity. Troy Bolton is the scum of this earth. He's the worst guy I have ever met, a fucking disaster…"

"It's nice to know you feel that way," came the voice of Troy himself as Gabriella turned to see him leaning against the door frame leading into her bedroom.

"What are you…Taylor, can I call you back?" Gabriella didn't wait for her friend's answer, but went to hang up the phone, Taylor's voice calling out to her before she ended the call.

"Wait! Gabriella! Is that who I think…?"

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked, standing up from the position from where she had been lying on her bed.

He shrugged, walking in further, but stopping just short of where she stood. "Your mom let me in."

"My mom…okay, remind me to kill my mother when I kick you out. Now goodbye," she went to shoo him out the room, but as she lifted her hand, he caught her wrist, shocking and stopping her movements.

"I came to apologize." When she didn't respond, he took that as his sign to continue. "I uh…I went overboard yesterday. I was out of line and it was inappropriate, seeing as how I did invite you out and agree to your stupid little games…"

"If you're going to continue to insult me…" she rolled her eyes, but he quickly recoiled his statements.

"No, sorry. Look, it's not anything personal, but no one's ever cared enough."

"Cared enough for what?"

"To want to get to know me! I'm not exactly the person everyone wants to be friends with."

She shrugged. "You make it that way. You push people away."

He nodded. "Story of my life. Gabriella, I appreciate the interest in me but…back off. And I meant that in the kindest way possible," he added before she could step in and yell. "I don't want you to get hurt. You're too kind for your own good and you're this sweet and innocent girl and I don't want to be responsible for fucking up your life."

Shaking her head, she caught his gaze, seeing the flash of pain in them. "I don't…Troy whatever it is that's going on with you, I'm sure it's not that bad. You're not going to hurt me if you don't want to."

"You have no idea Gabriella. I'm not dragging you into this fucked up situation I have."

"Why?"

"Because…in a weird way, I guess I care," he shrugged, doing that thing she noticed he did a lot when he was uncomfortable as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"You care?"

He shrugged again. "Like I said you can't even begin to understand what's going on."

Silence ensued on Gabriella's part and after an awkward moment, she wasn't sure what possessed her to do it or if she had just lost her mind totally and completely, but Gabriella's feet moved her closer to Troy, her hands rested on his biceps, her body pushing herself up to his height, and her lips pressing against his.


	6. Chapter Six

**_So my goal is to start updating this story at least 3 times a week, hopefully every Monday-Wednesday-Friday since those are the days I am the least busy as far as work and school. Excluding this past Friday because I had some things to take care of. _****_I have 3 classes tomorrow and then I'm out officially for the Thanksgiving holiday, so on that note, I will work on the next chapter and have another post for you all on Wednesday._**

**_Until then!_**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_I want to know what you're up to," his husky voice spoke into her ear._

"_What makes you think I'm up to something," she questioned, still preoccupied with the books in her locker._

"_You said it yourself yesterday. I have a feeling whatever you're up to; you're not giving up until you get it."_

"_Well at least you know I won't stop until I'm satisfied."_

**xx**

"_Go ahead and say it. I should have known it was coming," she answered back, depressed._

"_Gabi, it's not your fault. He's just not…the friendly type. It was nice of you to try."_

"_Oh, please. It was stupid of me to try."_

"_You're not stupid. You were curious."_

_Gabriella scoffed. "And that's the last time I'll act on that curiosity. Troy Bolton is the scum of this earth. He's the worst guy I have ever met, a fucking disaster…"_

**xx**

"_You have no idea Gabriella. I'm not dragging you into this fucked up situation I have."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because…in a weird way, I guess I care," he shrugged, doing that thing she noticed he did a lot when he was uncomfortable as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets._

"_You care?"_

_He shrugged again. "Like I said you can't even begin to understand what's going on."_

_Silence ensued on Gabriella's part and after an awkward moment, she wasn't sure what possessed her to do it or if she had just lost her mind totally and completely, but Gabriella's feet moved her closer to Troy, her hands rested on his biceps, her body pushing herself up to his height, and her lips pressing against his._

**Everything is clearer when you're in love.****  
**** -John Lennon**

Chapter 6

She wasn't sure was possessed her to do it, but standing there with her lips on his, she sure wasn't regretting it. As her hands slithered their way up his arms to his shoulders and the rest on the back of his neck, Gabriella felt Troy's hands coming to rest on the curve of her hips. After a while of trying to keep herself up on her toes to reach his lips, her muscles started to feel the strain as air became necessary. It became clear that they needed to pull away, but Gabriella made it clear that pulling away didn't mean losing all bodily contact.

Keeping her arms locked around his neck for a couple more seconds before she dropped them back down to his biceps, Troy followed her lead, his hands staying at her hips. Silence overtook the two as they stood in the middle of her room, Troy staring down at the brunette as she closed her eyes and bit her lip.

"I would ask you why you did that," Troy started. "But I don't even think you know why."

Gabriella sighed, opening up her eyes to make contact with his. "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"I don't think you need to be sorry."

Shyly removing her arms from his bicep, Gabriella tried to step back but his hands weren't attempting to move off her hips. "Uhm, you should…"

"Why?"

Shrugging, she tried again to move from him, feeling a little bit awkward, not knowing what to say to him now. "I just figured you'd want to. I...you already apologized."

"Do you want me to go?"

"I'm not sure what I want you to do right now," she replied, feeling the awkwardness setting in now.

"Gab, I need your help," Drew's voice sounded through the room as he walked in past his sisters' wide open door. "Can you…"

"Andrew! Why are you in my room?" Gabriella panicked, quickly pulling away from Troy and going to stand in front of her brother.

"The real question is: why is _he_ in your room? What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Gabriella answered at the same time that Troy answered, "I don't know."

Drew's eyes instantly narrowed on the two. "Which is it?"

"It's nothing! Trust me."

"Kind of hard to do, seeing as how his hands were just on you and I'm pretty sure I've warned you at least 5 times about Bolton…"

"I'm right here."

"I don't give a fuck! Keep your hands off my sister!" Drew snapped, testing Troy by stepping toward him.

Troy wasn't about to back off and stepped closer to Drew as well. "What are you going to do if I don't?"

"You want to find out?"

"Can we stop this please?" Gabriella asked, stepping in between the two; hand on her brother's arm as she faced him, her back to Troy. "There is nothing going on!"

"So what did I just walk in on?"

"Nothing, Drew! You walked in on nothing. It's not that serious, stop getting worked up!"

"Don't lie to me, Gabriella."

"Drew…"

"Your sister's telling the truth," Troy cut her off. "Nothing's going on between us. I accidently tripped and grabbed onto her for balance."

Gabriella's head snapped over to Troy, sending him a look of confusion, but his face stayed blank without emotion as he glanced between her and her brother.

Drew looked over at his sister, narrowing his eyes before turning and storming out.

"What was that?" Gabriella asked.

"That was me saving your ass, what did you think I was doing?"

"Saving my ass? I'm pretty sure if someone needs saving from my brother it's more likely to be you than me."

"Well what did you want me to tell him? Did you want me to tell him you kissed me?"

Gabriella scoffed. "And you kissed me back, remember?"

"It doesn't matter; you still made the first move."

"What is this 5th grade? You wanted me to do it just as much as I wanted to do it."

"I wasn't denying that. I was stating my explanation for telling your brother what I did. Not that I actually owe you one, but I offered one."

Gabriella groaned, rolling her eyes, but Troy was quick to reach out and grab her wrist, pulling her close to him before she could even think to turn away from him. Being so close that she could feel his breath on her face, Gabriella took a deep breath as she looked up to meet the intense gaze from his cerulean eyes.

"You're so fucking stubborn," he informed her, his hands dropped down to the curve of her hips.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Troy confirmed before leaning down a few inches and closing the gap between the two once again. When they pulled away for air, he was smirking again. "But believe it or not, I like that about you."

Giggling briefly, Gabriella bit her lip. "And you're infuriating and frustration to the point where I hate dealing with you…but I do it anyway."

"Guess we both have a weakness, huh?"

"Hmm," she thought for a second before untangling their arms from each other and directing him toward her bedroom door. "More like kryptonite."

"What? Wait, I wasn't leaving…"

"Yes, you are. See you tomorrow Troy," she answered as he stood outside her door while she closed and locked it before turning back and collapsing on her bed, the smile still evident on her face.

~FBH~

"The smile on your face is really scary right about now," Taylor admitted to Gabriella the next day they saw each other.

"What are you talking about?" Gabriella wondered digging into her backpack.

"I'm talking about this big ass grin on your face," Taylor answered. "Oh! And also the fact that you hung up on me last night and never called me back to tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened, Tay. I just had to deal with some stuff that I had to get off the phone for."

"Stuff concerning Troy?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Why would you say that?"

"Gabs! I heard him over the phone last night."

"Taylor, honestly, nothing happened. It wasn't a big deal. He came over, we talked, and he left. Nothing more, nothing less."

The darker-skinned girl narrowed her eyebrow at her best friend. "If you say so."

"God, Tay, drop it please!"

"Fine, okay. Topic dropped, happy now?"

"Very," came the reply from Gabriella along with a smile that got even brighter seconds later.

Turning to see what had caught her eye and made her smile wider that she already was, Taylor rolled her eyes at the sight of Troy Bolton himself. With a groan, she looked back at Gabriella with a deadpanned look. "And this is why I call bullshit when you say nothing happened."

"Shh!" Gabriella quickly shushed her friend before walking over to where Troy was standing with a few guys she knew he sometimes hung with whenever he was skipping class or in the back stairwell smoking. She wouldn't call them friends but aquaintances. "Hey."

Troy turned, seeing her face and smirked, leaning against the locker as he towered over her. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, just though I'd come over to say hey."

"Well….hey."

"Bolton! Quit wasting our time," one of the guys behind him called out. "We already rolled 'em up and we've only got 10 minutes before class to light up."

"I'll be there in a sec," Troy responded. "Glad you came over."

"Lighting up?"

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, shaking his head. "You good?"

"Uhm, yeah sure."

"Sweet, I'll uhh, I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Feeling a bit rejected, Gabriella nodded and watched him jog off to handle business. It was then that it finally hit Gabriella. What the hell was she doing?


	7. Chapter Seven

_**So I realize that technically this is late, because technically it's 2 hours into Thursday where I am, but hopefully you will forgive me as I lost track of my life for a few hours because none of my professors believe in holiday breaks anymore, so I have been bombarded with tons of work. 3 papers, 3 online quizzes, 1 online exam, and 2 project/presentations later and maybe I'll finally have time to eat Turkey with my family.**_

_**So with that said, I hope everything who celebrates Thanksgiving has a happy one and enjoys that time with their family, because I for one am very thankful to be home for 6 days despite my work overload. Grammatical errors are unavoidable because I'm human and on that note I must climb into my bed and hope that when I wake my inbox is filled with reviews! (:**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_I would ask you why you did that," Troy started. "But I don't even think you know why."_

_Gabriella sighed, opening up her eyes to make contact with his. "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."_

"_I don't think you need to be sorry."_

_**xx**_

"_Keep your hands off my sister!" Drew snapped, testing Troy by stepping toward him._

_Troy wasn't about to back off and stepped closer to Drew as well. "What are you going to do if I don't?"_

"_You want to find out?"_

"_Can we stop this please?" Gabriella asked, stepping in between the two; hand on her brother's arm as she faced him, her back to Troy. "There is nothing going on!"_

_**xx**_

"_Don't worry about it," he assured her, shaking his head. "You good?"_

"_Uhm, yeah sure."_

"_Sweet, I'll uhh, I'll talk to you soon, okay?"_

_Feeling a bit rejected, Gabriella nodded and watched him jog off to handle business. It was then that it finally hit Gabriella. What the hell was she doing?_

**For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.****  
-Judy Garland**

Chapter 7

Gabriella sighed, straightening up her shirt and looking down at her jeans as she stood in front of the door marked 6B. She wouldn't say the small, 8 floor apartment building she'd gone to was in a bad side of town, but rather a place she didn't live, didn't want to live, and had never actually been to before. She was out of her element, but curiousity always got the best of her and it seemed especially serious these days. After all, it had made her sneak into the school counselors office to find where Troy Bolton lived.

And now she was standing in front of it, knocking on his door.

She heard the sound of voices and footsteps from behind the door seconds before it opened, revealing Troy himself, red eyes and all."

"Gabriella? What the…what the fuck are you doing here?" He asked as she snuck a glance inside, catching the 4 or 5 people sitting on his couch smoking right before he stepped out and closed the door behind himself.

"I uh…"

"Are you crazy?"

"No I just….I don't know what I was thinking. This was stupid." She turned to walk away, but Troy gripped her arm.

"You came all the way here, went through all that trouble just to turn around and leave?"

"I just…didn't know you had company."

Gabriella bit her lip as Troy eyed her suspiciously. "We both know that's not what this is about. I may be a little high right now…"

"You guys weren't smoking cigarettes this time…" she stated, finally connecting with his red eyes.

He licked his lips as he looked back at her, suddenly caring what she thought. "No, but…"

She shrugged, holding her hands out. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I should go, I'm sorry for this."

Gabriella turned and made her way to the elevator, mentally kicking herself in the head for this plan to surprise Troy at his place. She'd just wanted to talk and she'd imagined that when she got here it would be his mom or dad opening the door to some nice suburban home. She thought that he wouldn't be all bad, just some sort of front he was putting up to everyone at school, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

Back at his apartment door down the hall, Troy made the split second decision to dash down the hall just as the elevator reached his floor and slipped inside the elevator with her before the doors could close. "Gabriella…"

"Troy! What are you doing? Just go home, I'm sorry I ever came here."

Troy ignored her, hitting the emergency stop button and then turning around to face her, arms falling on the back wall on the elevator, caging Gabriella in and making her back hit the wall as she looked up at him. "I…"

"I know what you think you saw and it may not be something you want to get involved with, but I warned you. I have much more of a past than you know and it's pretty fucked up."

Gabriella swallowed, opening her mouth as she kept her eyes on his. "My life's not perfect either. It's probably not as fucked up, but I've got skeletons in my closet too."

"This is serious…"

"I know. And I'm serious. I'm not stupid. I know that there's probably weed and alcohol and a bunch of other illegal drugs in there, Troy, but that doesn't matter to me. Whatever you're involved in, it doesn't matter…"

"It does…"

"Not to me! Look, I can't tell you why or how it even happened, but there's something about you that I just…I can't let it go, nor do I want to. Like you said, there's more to you, there's a whole story and a side I don't know, but it's not all bad…"

"You don't know that," he cut her off. "You don't know everything about me," he stated fiercly.

She nodded, a bit intimidated by the sudden fire in his eyes. But she wasn't backing off now. "You're right, but you don't know everything about me either. I understand. There's thing you can't tell me and things I probably will never understand about you, but I'm not running away. I'm not scared to know you. It's actually the opposite; I'm scared to not know you."

Troy's eyes scanned down along her body, feeling a snarl attempting to erupt, but stopped when he focused back on her face again. She was staring at him with this look. Yet she was honest, it wasn't a look of fear, it was more like a look of fascination. And he wanted her. God, all of the curiousness and the persistence from her and he wanted her bad.

So he trailed his hands from the wall of the elevator down her shoulders and then to her torso, stopping momentarily to trace the outline of her hip. He gripped her next, pulling her toward him with force just seconds before angrily covering her lips with his own, receiving no fight from her.

He wanted her and so he was going to have her.


	8. Chapter Eight

_**I'm late again guys, so sorry. I finally took a break from my work and ended up watching Jurassic World and Paper Towns which were both really good movies. Then as I lay down to sleep and staring at the ceiling, I remember that the last chapter of FBH was written and waiting in my doc manager to be published, so here it is! Hope you all enjoy!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Gabriella? What the…what the fuck are you doing here?" He asked as she snuck a glance inside._

"_I uh…"_

"_Are you crazy?"_

_**xx**_

"_Troy, that doesn't matter to me. Whatever you're involved in, it doesn't matter…"_

"_It does…"_

"_Not to me! Look, I can't tell you why or how it even happened, but there's something about you that I just…I can't let it go, nor do I want to. Like you said, there's more to you, there's a whole story and a side I don't know, but it's not all bad…"_

"_You don't know that," he cut her off. "You don't know everything about me," he stated fiercly._

_**xx**_

_She was staring at him with this look. Yet she was honest, it wasn't a look of fear, it was more like a look of fascination. And he wanted her. God, all of the curiousness and the persistence from her and he wanted her bad._

_So he trailed his hands from the wall of the elevator down her shoulders and then to her torso, stopping momentarily to trace the outline of her hip. He gripped her next, pulling her toward him with force just seconds before angrily covering her lips with his own, receiving no fight from her._

_He wanted her and so he was going to have her._

**And there's just no turning back when your heart's under attack.**

** -Justin Bieber**

Chapter 8

Another fresh morning of the week saw Gabriella at school, perfectly content as she walked down the hallway with a smile and a sort of happiness that seemed to radiate off of her. She passed multiple groups and crowds of people socializing, making it easily to her locker without a care or worry about the other students she shared the long corridor with.

Taylor, who had been standing a few feet away with Chad at her locker, had noticed Gabriella carefree walk into the school and combined with her overly happy attitude, she instantly knew something was up. Parting with Chad, she sidled up to Gabriella quietly before nearing shocking the girl with her presence.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Holy…" Gabriella turned with her hand placed firmly over her chest, shooting her friend a confused look. "Don't do that. God, I didn't even know you were there."

"Uh huh, I'm sure you didn't because you were lost in your own little world. What's up with you today?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Nothing! Why does something have to be up?"

"I know you…"

"Tay, I'm just having a good day, is that illegal?"

"Well, depends on why you're having such a good day," she answered, crossing her arms and looking at her friend expectantly.

"Taylor it's nothing, I'm just…" but Gabriella didn't finish her sentence. She trailed off when she happened to look up and spot the tall, blue eyed figure walking down the hallway past them. Gabriella caught his eye and as he neared them, passing behind Taylor's back, he kept his eyes on her as well, sending a quick wink her way just moments before they lost eye contact and he disappeared around the corner where she knew the empty stairwell would be.

Taylor turned at noticing Gabriella's eyes wander off behind her and was lucky enough to catch the person's back as he walked away. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Gabriella played along innocently.

"Was that Troy?"

"Uhh, I don't know. But I have to go do something before class," she continued on, turning and closing her locker promptly.

"What?" Taylor's eyebrows immediately scrunched up as she stared at her best friend in confusion.

"I will see you in class right?"

Taylor nodded, even more confused at her friends sudden need to get away.

Gabriella, not really paying much attention anymore, was already walking away towards where the earlier figure had left to. She rounded the corner, pushing open the doors to the stairwell and immediately finding herself pressed up against a wall being kissed fiercely.

Wrapping her arms around the neck of her assailant, she eagerly kissed him back once she got her bearings, loving the feeling of his body on hers and he held her to the wall.

When Gabriella pulled away, his lips started working on her neck and she dropped her hands to rest on his chest. "Hi," she whispered, afraid to break their secret atmosphere by speaking too loud.

"Hi," came Troy's muffled response as he kissed and sucked on her neck.

"I wasn't expecting this."

"So why'd you come?"

"I wanted…wanted to talk to…you," she found it hard to keep one straight train of thought while he was doing was he was doing.

"About?"

"Just to make sure…we're cool right?"

Troy stopped, pulling away to look at her, watching as she struggled to compose herself with the absence of his mouth on her neck. "Are you seriously asking me that? Right now?"

Gabriella stared back at him, not answering, but her face not faltering from a serious look.

Troy sighed. "Yes, Gabriella. We are cool. Why wouldn't we be?"

She shrugged. "I've never…you're different. This is different."

"We're two different people, so I'm sure that's a whole lot of different."

"I just…"she stopped and looked towards the wall before back to him. "Why are we sneaking around?"

"You really want it to get out that we're hooking up?"

"We aren't hooking up. It's just kissing."

He raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. "And what do you thinking kissing is?"

"If we were hooking up, we'd be….having sex. And we're not."

"I thought that was 'fooling around'?"

"Also called hooking up."

He smirked. "I'm not here to argue with you about what to call this," he said, leaning in to kiss her again, but she dodged it. "So what do you call this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Why do we have to label it? It just is."

She used her hands on his chest to push him away from her when he went to kiss her again. "I'm not the secret behind-closed-doors hookup girl."

He stepped back, running a head through his hair. "Then what girl are you?"

When she didn't answer, he took the hint at what she wanted. "I'm not that boyfriend guy."

"Why not?"

"Same reason you aren't the hookup girl."

Gabriella rolled her eyes at him. "We don't have to label this. If we label it, it gets a lot more complicated than it should. The other night was…I told you there's a lot of things about me you don't know," Troy started. "If we label this, I have to tell you and to be honest, you don't need to know it all. And then there's your brother, so if I'm being 100% with you, I'm trying to save your ass."

"I don't need saving, I know how to handle myself."

"Well I don't want people talking and I'm sure you don't either."

"SO basically you don't want to be seen with me?"

Troy sighed. "Why are we doing this?"

"Why are you being stubborn?"

"Because I'm not going to do this with you. Look, I like you, you're hot and I really enjoy hooking up, making out, whatever you call it, with you. I don't need a girlfriend added on to my list of problems, so if that's what you're looking for then you might as well go."

Gabriella stared at him for a long moment and he stared back, hard jaw. "Fine, then. Guess I was mistaken, I'll stay out of your way." She walked away without any protest from him, but as soon as she was gone, found Troy punching the wall in frustration.

Why couldn't he just admit to it?


	9. Chapter Nine

_**Hola! Happy Monday. I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wondeful holiday. Back to the grind today for me, but no fear, not for long. This is my last week of classes and I have finals next week, then finally a much needed Christmas break with no work whatsoever! I just have to pull through. I've made it through the past 4 months, so 2 weeks should be easy.**_

_** So because of that, I know I probably won't be writing as much in the next two weeks, so to stretch my chapters out to last and so you guys aren't waiting forever for an update, I'm going to post less-every Monday and Friday instead of Mon, Wed, Fri. So look for another chapter on Friday and until then I hope everyone enjoys their week! Adios!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Uh huh, I'm sure you didn't because you were lost in your own little world. What's up with you today?"_

_Gabriella shrugged. "Nothing! Why does something have to be up?"_

"_I know you…"_

"_Tay, I'm just having a good day, is that illegal?"_

"_Well, depends on why you're having such a good day," she answered, crossing her arms and looking at her friend expectantly._

_**xx**_

_She rounded the corner, pushing open the doors to the stairwell and immediately finding herself pressed up against a wall being kissed fiercely._

_Wrapping her arms around the neck of her assailant, she eagerly kissed him back once she got her bearings, loving the feeling of his body on hers and he held her to the wall. _

_When Gabriella pulled away, his lips started working on her neck and she dropped her hands to rest on his chest. "Hi," she whispered, afraid to break their secret atmosphere by speaking too loud._

"_Hi," came Troy's muffled response as he kissed and sucked on her neck._

_**xx**_

_Troy sighed. "Why are we doing this?"_

"_Why are you being stubborn?"_

"_Because I'm not going to do this with you. Look, I like you, you're hot and I really enjoy hooking up, making out, whatever you call it, with you. I don't need a girlfriend added on to my list of problems, so if that's what you're looking for then you might as well go."_

_Gabriella stared at him for a long moment and he stared back, hard jaw. "Fine, then. Guess I was mistaken, I'll stay out of your way."_

**For love is immortality.**

** -Emily Dickinson**

Chapter 9

Later that afternoon, Gabriella was packing her gym bag as she got ready to leave dance rehearsal. "Good job tonight ladies," Laura, the instructor called out. "Keep it up and we'll be knocking West High out of the waters when comp comes around."

There was light chatter and noise as the other girls gathered up their things as well, preparing to say goodbye. Gabriella was headed towards the door when she spotted a figure lingering close to the exit. She stopped, absent mindedly saying goodbye to her classmates/teammates and the instructor and waited for everyone to go before she finally openly acknowledged his presence

"What are you doing here?"

"Figured I'd find you here," Troy answered, staring her down seemingly nonchalantly, hands in his pockets.

"Well I'm here, what do you need?"

"To apologize."

Gabriella scoffed, finishing putting her things in her bag, more stuffing angrily now. "Troy Bolton seeking forgiveness for something. My ears have to be deceiving me."

"Well you're real funny, but this isn't a joke. I'm serious."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why apologize to me? You supposedly stick to your word and don't do anything you don't want to or feel you need to. So why apologize? Don't do this to spare my feelings, I'll be okay without one."

"I'm not apologizing because I have to, it's because I want to."

"What so I'm special?"

He shrugged. "That's just it! You are. And I can't for the life of me figure out why, but I want to apologize to you because today was bad and I don't want to go through this with you."

"You don't have to do it at all Troy. I get it, there are things you don't want to share with me and maybe I'm asking for a little too much, but dammit, I'm a girl and I really like you, so what do you expect from me?"

"You like me?"

She sighed. "Isn't that obvious? I wouldn't care so much if I didn't. Yes, you're secretive and everyone has their own rumor about what they think about you, but none of it is true and that makes me all the more interested. I want to know you, the real you and I want you to give me that chance…"

"So the real question is what do you expect from me?"

"Honesty. Kindness maybe. And I don't know, attempt to not treat me like a random hookup. That's not what I am…"

"It's not…"

"I care about you…"

"Clearly you do…"

"And I want you…"

"I want you too. So how about you shut up and agree to be my damn girlfriend already?"

"And you can't…what?"

"You really want me to repeat myself? I said…"

"No, I heard what you said, but just like the apology crap, I can't believe it came out your mouth. Do you really mean that?"

"I don't say what I don't mean."

"What about being too fucked up?"

Troy shrugged. "We're all a little fucked up right? I just…don't want to hurt you in the process."

She shook her head. "You won't hurt me…"

"I've already done so."

"This morning? I was upset, pissed yeah, but you didn't hurt me. This is the real world, I would have eventually gotten over it."

"Well," Troy started, slowly trailing his hand from her shoulder down to her waist. "I hope you're not still pissed at me."

"Depends, are you still be an oversensitive, uncaring asshole?"

Troy smirked, playing with the hem of her workout shirt. "Ouch, Brie. You know I have tendencies."

She smiled slightly. "Brie?"

He shrugged to which she gripped his shirt and pulled him closer. "I think I can deal with the asshole tendencies."

There weren't many words spoken after that.

~FBH~

"Mom, do we really have to do this?" Drew asked the next night as he set the table while his mother worked on the finishing touches of her famous spaghetti and Gabriella tossed a quick salad.

"Honey, these are my clients; I have to impress them. They haven't had time to sit and meet with me together yet, so I figured dinner would be the perfect opportunity."

"But tonight? It's a Thursday. You know Thursday's are big party nights on campus."

"You could leave," Gabriella suggested, to which Drew shot a dirty look.

"Drew, it'll be an hour to 90 minutes at the most of food. Then we'll be talking business and you two can feel free to escape and do whatever it is you have planned, okay?"

Drew sighed. "Fine. I gotta go call Matt and tell him I'm gonna be late to Britt's."

He walked away and Gabriella rolled her eyes, setting the salad on the table and turning to find her mother shaking her head with a smile. "So she's bringing her husband?"

Her mother nodded. "Yep. I've only ever spoken to her over the phone and she really wants her husband involved in the buying process although apparently he doesn't want to be. I figured dinner could be an equal meeting start for them."

"Hmm, and how old is she?"

"26 if I'm correct. Her husband's a lot older though."

Gabriella snorted. "She's one of those?"

"Be nice! Love has no age."

"Right, but I'm pretty sure there's more than love going on if she's in her twenties and he turns out to be 83."

Isabella laughed. "I don't think he's that much older than her. Maybe late 40's or early 50's. Late 50's at the most."

"Still robbing the cradle."

"You remember that when you come home with an older guy and I don't like him."

"As if. Believe me, Mom, I'm not going anywhere past sleazy high school or college guys right now."

The older woman rolled her eyes jokingly just as the bell rang. "Want to…"

"I got it!" Drew called out, probably closer to the door than the both of them.

At his call, the two women continued to finish off the remaining parts of dinner as they briefly recognized Drew opening the door and a soft female voice floating through the entry way. However, the outburst minutes later would draw their attention and bring them to the living room.

"THE HELL?! Son of a…"

"Drew!" Isabella reprimanded as she took off her apron and entered the foyer. "Excuse my son, he's…"but she trailed off just as her son had, leaving a curious Gabriella standing behind her trying to get a sneak peak of what was going on.

When she finally moved out from behind her mother, she almost didn't recognize the figure standing at the door, but no matter how much she tried to forget, his face would forever be etched into her memory, no matter how much he aged.

"Dad?"


	10. Chapter Ten

_**Happy Friday! I don't really have much to say or update on because classes are officially over and now I'm studying for exams so therefore, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Enjoy life, have fun, and stay safe. Until Monday's update!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_Figured I'd find you here," Troy answered, staring her down seemingly nonchalantly, hands in his pockets._

"_Well I'm here, what do you need?"_

"_To apologize."_

_Gabriella scoffed, finishing putting her things in her bag, more stuffing angrily now. "Troy Bolton seeking forgiveness for something. My ears have to be deceiving me."_

_**xx**_

"_I care about you…"_

"_Clearly you do…"_

"_And I want you…"_

"_I want you too. So how about you shut up and agree to be my damn girlfriend already?"_

"_And you can't…what?"_

"_You really want me to repeat myself? I said…"_

"_No, I heard what you said, but just like the apology crap, I can't believe it came out your mouth. Do you really mean that?"_

_**xx**_

"_I got it!" Drew called out, probably closer to the door than the both of them._

_At his call, the two women continued to finish off the remaining parts of dinner as they briefly recognized Drew opening the door and a soft female voice floating through the entry way. However, the outburst minutes later would draw their attention and bring them to the living room._

"_THE HELL?! Son of a…"_

"_Drew!" Isabella reprimanded as she took off her apron and entered the foyer. "Excuse my son, he's…"but she trailed off just as her son had, leaving a curious Gabriella standing behind her trying to get a sneak peak of what was going on._

"_Dad?"_

**Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.****  
-Albert Einstein**

Chapter 10

"Dad?" Gabriella stood frozen as she stared at her maker. It'd been 6 years since she last saw him, yet he still looked the same as he had that day he'd left. And that was exactly why she couldn't do it. "I can't be here," she said backing up and turning to push past her mother and Drew to the kitchen and out the back door before anyone could even try to stop her. Drew knew he wouldn't be able to stop her, but continued on out after her to get away from the situation.

Isabella turned back to her ex-husband, full of rage. "You know, you've got a lot of nerve coming here."

"Isabella please…"

"What's your excuse this time? And you," she said, turning to his wife. "I bet you're his secretary…or were, I see you're title has been upgraded. More job benefits now huh?"

"That's enough…"

"Enough? Who are you to tell me what is enough Joseph? Did I get a say on what was enough 6 years ago? You don't get to just walk back in here like nothing happened and especially don't get to bring her here to rub in my face."

"I'm not trying to rub anything in…"

"Then what the hell do you want?" They were both silent. "You can't tell me you didn't see the name on the card I gave your little playmate here. And I find it totally ironic that she didn't say not a word when she found out my last name. Strategically enough, she used a different last name when she met me…"

"We were just looking to redecorate and do some renovating to our home…"

Isabella was quick to stop her. "I'm not doing shit for you! For you to even come here thinking I would be nice enough to do you any kind of favors is really bold."

Joseph sighed, running a hand over his face. "Jenn, can you go wait in the car, I'll be there in a second."

Jennifer looked at him warily for a second before walking away as Isabella rolled her eyes. "Might as well just go with her; neither of you are welcome because I sure as hell don't want you to stay."

When Jennifer was safely out of distance, Isabella went to close the door, but Joe stepped up and gripped her arm tightly, surprising her and forcing her to look him in the eye. "You're still bitter," he started. "I get that, but you have no right talking to me or her like that."

"You really want to talk about who has rights here, now?"

"I only came here to make amends Isabella. When Jennifer found you, it was an opportunity. She could work on the home improvements and I could talk to you, apologize."

"I don't want an apology from you," she answered, pulling her arm away. "I don't want anything from you."

"They're my kids too! I deserve to get a chance to know them."

"You gave up that chance! You can't just walk away and come back when you feel like it!"

"You can't keep them from me."

She shook her head. "I can if I want to. But it's even my decision anyway. Drew is a legal adult and Gabriella is months away from being one herself. They make their own decisions, but don't get your hopes up, because I can almost promise you they don't want anything to do with you either, not after all this time."

"Things have changed since then."

"You're right! A lot has changed. They don't need you, we don't need you. There's no coming back from this."

She stood angered, not backing down and he stared her down, hoping to find a weakness. "Now get the hell out of my house," she spoke before slamming the door in his face.

~FBH~

Troy chuckled as he blew out a puff of smoke, passing the joint that had formerly been in his hand to the guy next to him.

He was sitting in his apartment with Alex and Randy, two guys he'd met when he first moved into the neighborhood. They'd helped him settle in and figure things out when he'd arrived, making sure he knew the ins and outs of the streets he was living on and the surrounding area. Alex had even got him his first job, however illegal it had been, it got Troy back on his feet. They weren't friends. It wasn't like he spent every moment of his life with them and around them, but they had been there for him when he needed it he most and he enjoyed their company most days. It was better than being alone all the time. Even if all they did was bring and smoke weed with him occasionally.

He leaned back against the old couch, pulling his legs up to cross and rest on the crappy coffee table in front of him that could possibly collapse at any moment. He let his head fall back, looking at the ceiling and getting lost in the feeling of being high just as there was a loud and rapid knock at the door.

Startled, he jumped up as Alex and Randy made moves to cover up the drugs just in case. It may have been legal for medical purposes in New Mexico, but there was no way any of them could lie there way out of it without a serious medical condition or a card or ID permitting use.

On his way to the door, Troy quickly grabbed the can of febreeze and sprayed a few quick bursts and then sniffed his shirt quickly to make sure the smell wasn't obvious. He yanked the door opened seconds later to find his girlfriend standing behind it. She had been looking at the ground before he'd came to the door and when she looked up, he noted her red eyes and knew it wasn't from what he'd just been engaging in.

"I'm sorry," she finally spoke, her voice hoarse from obvious crying. But Troy wasn't sure what to say. He'd never been the consoling type and never a boyfriend, so he wasn't sure what he needed to do for her. "I don't mean to just show up like this, but I couldn't stay home and Taylor's out so this was the only place I could think of…"

When she looked to him for a response, he shrugged. "It's cool. You okay?"

She sighed, wiping her eyes. "Not really. But I don't want to talk about it."

"I wasn't going to ask you to. Come in." He stepped out of the way, letting her enter the apartment, briefly making notice of the two guys on his couch.

"Hi," she spoke timidly to which both guys nodded at her.

"Uh, this is Alex and Randy, guys this is Gab."

"Sup?" Randy answered to which Alex looked at Troy. "She cool?"

Gabriella looked back at Troy questioningly as he nodded at Alex. He instantly stood up and pulled out the stash from where they'd stuffed it in the couch cushions. Troy instantly took her hand, leading her toward the kitchen that was a few feet away. As he tried redirecting her, she couldn't help but watch what the boys were doing, curious as she watched Alex put some herb looking stuff in a piece of paper.

Stopping, she attempted to lean around Troy for a closer look, never having actually seen a person roll weed in person before. Troy tugged on her arm, but she grabbed him, making him look at her. "Is that…?

"Gab…"

Alex looked at her with a smirk. "Wanna smoke?"

"I never have before," she admitted.

"There's always a first time for everything."

Randy smiled, but Troy was quick to shake his head. "No, not a good idea." He went to take her to the kitchen again, but she held his wrist. "I want to."

"No you don't."

"Troy…"

"Gabriella, you're not going to sit in my apartment and smoke weed with two guys you don't know."

"And you're not going to tell me what to do. Plus you seem to know them well enough to do it, so why can't I?"

"You're not me. Do you remember what I said about being fucked up?"

"Come on man, a little weed won't hurt her. We're all a little fucked up anyway, might as well enjoy it."

Gabriella sent Randy a small smile as she hesitantly moved around Troy and over to the couch, taking the fresh joint in her hand as Alex and Randy took turns helping her out.

And as she sat on the couch in a state of self-medicating herself, Troy knew that it would turn into more than a simple escape from a bad day. This had a tendency to become a habit. It was going to be a bad habit. Only one of many bad habits on the road appearing ahead.


	11. Chapter Eleven

_**Happy Monday! It's exam week for me, so it's crunch time. I'm currently taking a break from studying, sitting in the library at my campus in one of the private study rooms and figured I'd take the time now to update you all with this story. I personally really liked this chapter, so I hope you all do as well. So I'm off to study, ace these exams tomorrow and Friday and I'll see you guys on Friday again with my next update!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_You're still bitter," he started. "I get that, but you have no right talking to me or her like that."_

"_You really want to talk about who has rights here, now?"_

"_I only came here to make amends Isabella. When Jennifer found you, it was an opportunity. She could work on the home improvements and I could talk to you, apologize. They're my kids too! I deserve to get a chance to know them."_

"_You gave up that chance! You can't just walk away and come back when you feel like it!"_

"_Things have changed since then."_

"_You're right! A lot has changed. They don't need you, we don't need you. There's no coming back from this."_

_She stood angered, not backing down and he stared her down, hoping to find a weakness. "Now get the hell out of my house," she spoke before slamming the door in his face._

_**xx**_

"_I don't mean to just show up like this, but I couldn't stay home and Taylor's out so this was the only place I could think of…"_

_When she looked to him for a response, he shrugged. "It's cool. You okay?"_

_She sighed, wiping her eyes. "Not really. But I don't want to talk about it."_

"_I wasn't going to ask you to. Come in." He stepped out of the way, letting her enter the apartment, briefly making notice of the two guys on his couch. "Is that…?_

_Alex looked at her with a smirk. "Wanna smoke?"_

"_I never have before," she admitted._

"_There's always a first time for everything."_

_**xx**_

"_Gabriella, you're not going to sit in my apartment and smoke weed with two guys you don't know."_

"_And you're not going to tell me what to do. Plus you seem to know them well enough to do it, so why can't I?"_

"_You're not me. Do you remember what I said about being fucked up?"_

"_Come on man, a little weed won't hurt her. We're all a little fucked up anyway, might as well enjoy it."_

_Gabriella sent Randy a small smile as she hesitantly moved around Troy and over to the couch, taking the fresh joint in her hand._

**I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.****  
-Mother Teresa**

Chapter 11

When Gabriella woke the next morning, it was safe to say that she felt really out of it. She briefly remembered coming over to Troy's house crying after seeing her father again. She'd met two of his 'friends' at the apartment and shortly after, joined them out of curiosity and heartbreak as they…

SHIT!

She shot up, realizing she was in Troy's bed. Freaking out for just a second, she turned and found him entering the room, jeans and no shirt on, chest and hair wet because he'd just gotten out of the shower. As she caught his eye, it dawned on her that she'd made a big mistake that night and she was in no way sure of what his reaction would be.

"Hi," she spoke up quietly as he went to his drawer and picked out a clean shirt putting it on. She adjusted herself in the bed, noting she was half dressed in her clothes from the day before, attempting to figure out what to say to him as he turned in the mirror to fix his hair. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged. "I should be asking you that." She sighed, knowing that it wasn't good. She was clearly going to have to work for his forgiveness. Although she wasn't sure why he'd be so angry about it all.

"Are we okay?"

He didn't answer, but their eyes met in the mirror and he turned, jaw set. "I'm not really sure what to say to you."

"What do you want to say to me?"

"I want to say a lot Gabriella. Starting with what the hell were you thinking?"

"It was one time, Troy. I promise it won't happen again. I was upset and…I just didn't know how to handle it."

"SO you come over to my apartment and smoke weed for the first time."

She shrugged. "I didn't know what I was doing okay. Plus I'm sure you're not in any place to be angry with me right now."

"Really? Gabriella, you're not me, okay? I've been doing this shit since I was 13. That's not going to change overnight. But I know how to handle myself okay? You don't! You don't know what could have happened. They could have laced it with something and you could be dead right now!"

"You were smoking it too!"

"It doesn't matter! I don't matter in this situation! I couldn't give a damn if I had seized and died on the floor last night, but that's not going to happen to you, I refuse to let it."

Angry now, Gabriella stood from the bed, looking for the rest of her clothing. "Where are you going?"

"What does it look like? I'm leaving. I'm not about to stand here and let you yell at me like I'm a child."

"I'm just trying to protect you. I'm looking out for you."

"I don't need you fucking looking out for me, Troy! I've already got a father that doesn't want me, I don't need another one!"

At that, Troy closed his eyes, trying to control his anger. Gabriella continued to search for her stuff and he grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Hey…"

"What?! What are you going to tell me now? Huh? What else did I do wrong?"

"Stop," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I was worried about you. I've…never seen you do that before and I'm not sure I ever wanted to. I told you I don't want to fuck you up the same way I am and last night that's exactly what was happening."

"And I told you, I'm already fucked up, you don't see it. Last night was out of your control. That was my decision and agreed, it wasn't the best one, but it's not your fault."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not. I was already broken before you found me. You know…when you accused me of trying to fix you, you were wrong. Maybe I want you to fix me."

As she spoke, she gently and slowly slid her way up his bicep to rest on his chest. Eye contact couldn't dare be broken as he reached for one of her hands, linking them together. Gabriella brought that other hand further up, stopping as she reached his face, running her fingertips across his lips and nose and eyes before finding her way to cup the back of his neck. "Fix me," she said before she pulled his lips down to her own.

Mouths fused together passionately, hands exploring body parts furiously as they stood inches from his unmade bed. They were slowly backed up until legs hit the bed, forcing them to fall back, bodies never parting from one another…and they didn't stop there.

~FBH~

Gabriella panted heavily as Troy laid on top of her, breathing just as equally heavy as she was. Her hands stayed tracing the contours of his face; his chiseled cheek bones and prominent jaw, falling away as he slowly disconnected their lower bodies and disposed of the rubber protection.

She turned to face him as he situated himself on his side, looking back at her. They both found themselves eerily quiet as they stared at one another, Gabriella memorizing every part of him as Troy waited to see if she would say anything. Giving up, moments later, he spoke first, a whisper still, scared of breaking the silence by too much.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, still not opening her mouth as she continued taking him in.

"Was that okay for you?"

She nodded again.

"You're not saying anything?"

"There's nothing to say."

Troy was becoming worried at her silence and cryptic answers. "I want to be sure that's what you wanted. I don't ever want to take advantage of you…"

A small smile formed on her face. "Get over yourself, I asked for it, remember? I'm fine, Troy, but are you?"

He sighed. "I'm great."

"You're not," she stated, sitting up on her elbow, towering over his head as he rested both his hands on his abdomen, looking up at her. She reached down, moving one of his hands and gently fingering the contours of his body. "Why do you have this belief that you're a bad guy who's going to hurt me?"

He swallowed, avoiding her gaze and staring straight to the ceiling. "It's inevitable, Gabriella."

She looked at him, eyes squinted. "How can you say that?"

"How can you ignore it? Gabriella, since…"

"Stop calling me Gabriella," she cut him off, making him look back at her. "You call me Brie. I'm Brie."

"The past few days have been a lot for both of us. I can't help but think asking you to be my girlfriend was a mistake. I don't want to…"

"Hurt me? We've been over this. It's not really your decision to make. I want you, otherwise, I wouldn't be here. We make our own decisions in life and while you may think I'm making a bad one with you, I see the exact opposite. You're not bad guy Troy. I can see through that idiotic façade you put up, believe it or not."

He scoffed. "Please…"

"You're not! The way I see it, you're a good guy that's been dealt a bad hand. We all get things in life we don't deserve. I got my abandoning father and you got this."

Troy was quick to shake his head, looking away from her again. "You don't know everything..."

She grabbed his chin, forcing his head in her direction. "So then tell me! I can't know or understand unless you tell me."

And so he did.

He told her about his unsuspecting trial with drugs when he was 13. The addiction that soon formed after that. He explained the growth from something so miniature as marijuana, to the hardcore drugs of coke and heroin that he'd experimented with. He talked about the 3 year struggle and the constant rehab stints that soon made his parents grow tired of him, making them end their affiliation with him. She learned of his court hearing that forced him to get clean (mostly) and put him with a social worker who in turn got him a deal rather than a foster home. The judge granted him a government paid apartment when he was 3 months shy of 18, with the promise that he would get it together, start anew. So he'd cut himself off, to keep himself on his path. He told her everything. And Gabriella? She listened. It was something no one else had done and it meant the most.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_**So I finally am done with this stressful semester of college-the most stressful one yet. I took my last final today and as of now I have a B in all of my classes, so hopefully when grades post Monday, it stays that way or better. **_

_**I move tomorrow into my new space here at school and once I get the keys and get most of my stuff situated, I'm headed home to my parents for the holidays and then I have about a week and a half before I'm traveling to New York to see my family for Christmas. Hopefully I can get some writing done in the next week rather than sit around, sleep, eat, eat and watch Netflix but no promises yet. :) Christmas Break is officially here! But enough about how excited I am for this lovely break, enjoy the chapter and don't forget to REVIEW!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Are we okay?"_

_He didn't answer, but their eyes met in the mirror and he turned, jaw set. "I'm not really sure what to say to you."_

"_What do you want to say to me?"_

"_I want to say a lot Gabriella. Starting with what the hell were you thinking?"_

"_It was one time, Troy. I promise it won't happen again. I was upset and…I just didn't know how to handle it."_

_**xx**_

"_I don't want to hurt you."_

"_You're not. I was already broken before you found me. You know…when you accused me of trying to fix you, you were wrong. Maybe I want you to fix me."_

_As she spoke, she gently and slowly slid her way up his bicep to rest on his chest. Eye contact couldn't dare be broken as he reached for one of her hands, linking them together. Gabriella brought that other hand further up, stopping as she reached his face, running her fingertips across his lips and nose and eyes before finding her way to cup the back of his neck. "Fix me," she said before she pulled his lips down to her own._

_**xx**_

"_You're not! The way I see it, you're a good guy that's been dealt a bad hand. We all get things in life we don't deserve. I got my abandoning father and you got this."_

_Troy was quick to shake his head, looking away from her again. "You don't know everything..."_

_She grabbed his chin, forcing his head in her direction. "So then tell me! I can't know or understand unless you tell me."_

_And so he did._

**I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.****  
-Audrey Hepburn**

Chapter 12

Gabriella tiptoed into the house later that night, gently closing the door and removing her shoes once she was in the doorway. Holding the shoes, as to avoid making any noises as she moved across the floor, she slowly but surely made her way to the stairs, too careful not to alert the house of her presence, but apparently not careful enough.

Without warning, the light in the living room was turned on, and she was caught just steps shy from the stairs. Focusing her eyes to get used to the light, she squinted past finding Drew frowning back at her from his place in the corner of the room, hand still on the switch.

"Drew, what are you…"

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked her firmly, stepping away from the switch, his face meant to be intimidating, but it wasn't having the same effect on his sister that he'd hoped.

"I was out. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you've been 'out' since last night. A full 24 hours where we didn't know where you were. Mom was flipping out!"

"I'm fine! I was always fine, I just needed to get out."

"That's not the point! Do you know how stressed out Mom was? To the max! She even cried because she was so worried about what you'd gone out and gotten yourself into. I had to convince her to go to sleep because she refused until she knew you were okay. And even then, I think she wore herself out by crying so damn much."

"Drew…"

"No! What the hell is your problem? And I bet you were with Bolton, despite what I've told you about him. You just don't fucking listen do you? And another thing…"

"CUT IT OUT!" She screeched. "Once again Drew, someone has to remind you that you are NOT my father. We had one of those remember? And in case you weren't aware, after the experiences I've had with him, I don't want another!"

Drew was fuming, not expecting her to challenge him. "Where were you?"

"I was out, damn it, let it go!"

"Gabriella…"

"Fine! I was with Troy! Is that what you want to fucking hear? I was with MY BOYFRIEND! Can I go now?"

Before she even had a chance to start up the stairs, Drew addressed her statement. "Boyfriend? You can't be serious?"

"And why can't I be serious?"

"Troy Bolton doesn't do girlfriends. He's not the type."

"How would you know his type? How do you even know anything about him? You keep warning me, but you haven't given me any facts to prove I should even pay any attention to you. He's not the guy you think he is and I would appreciate it if you and everyone else would stop making him out to be the worst guy on the planet!"

"Gabriella?" Isabella questioned as she came down halfway down the stairs dressed in her housecoat. "Sweetheart, you had me so worried, when did you get in?"

"Just now. I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm okay I promise."

Isabella reached for her daughter and Gabriella walked up the stairs to meet her halfway in a hug.

"Don't go all hugging and kissing on her yet, Mom. Let her tell you where she's been the past 24 hours first."

"Drew, what on Earth…"

"Drop it, okay?" Gabriella warned. "You're making a bigger deal out of this than you need to."

"Because you've been fucking missing for over a day!"

"DREW!" Isabella warned instantly. "You will not use that language in my house. Now listen you two, whatever it is you're fighting about, cut it out now. We can do this all you want to later, but right now all I care about is that both my children are home safe. Get to bed, both of you, we'll talk in the morning."

Gabriella squeezed past her mother, immediately closing herself up in her room while Drew stood hesitantly, watching the older woman with wary eyes.

"Did you hear what I said Andrew?" She asked.

"Mom…"

"Go to bed," she cut him off firmly. "I am not having this conversation at midnight. It's been a long day and we will discuss this at a decent hour."

With that she left him standing downstairs alone with his anger, hoping that he'd calm himself down and sleep it off so they could have a sensible conversation.

~FBH~

Gabriella awoke the next morning with thoughts of her entry the night before fresh on her mind. She didn't want to go downstairs and talk, but she knew it was inevitable to avoid. She surely couldn't sleep all day because sooner or later one of them would come and seek her out to talk. She might as well get it over with now.

Dressing after a quick shower in some running shorts and a t-shirt, she approached the stairs with a shaky attitude. Upon entering the kitchen, she found her mother at the table with a cup of coffee staring into space and Drew sitting staring at the entryway, eyes locked on her the minute she made her presence noticeable.

"Well now let's get started."

"Drew," Isabella warned.

Gabriella ignored him, grabbing her own cup of coffee before sitting down at the table across from her mother. "He's right. Let's get started. What all do you want to know, Drew?"

He stepped closer to her. "Where the hell were you the past day?"

She titled her head sideways after taking a sip of her coffee. "I was out."

"Out with who?"

"Out with friends…"

"Which friends?"

"Why? You want their names and social security numbers too? Need to do a background check?"

"Just on one 'friend'," Drew clarified, angering Gabriella because she knew instantly who he was referring to.

"I'm done," she said standing up.

"Sit down," her mother ordered. When Gabriella turned to question her, Isabella didn't even give her the chance to speak. "I will not ask you again, Gabriella."

Sighing she sat, arms folded across her chest firmly, refusing to look either mother or brother in the eye.

"Gabriella, I get that you're 17 years old and you want to have a life, but you are still a minor and disappearing for over 24 hours without a phone call or explanation, no matter the excuse is not acceptable."

She nodded, murmuring a quick sorry. Isabella then turned to Drew. "And you. However I appreciate you wanting to protect and look after your sister, remember that you both are MY responsibility. I don't need you to be a second parent. When you have kids of your own, feel free, but right now, let me be the mom, okay?"

Drew, clearly agonized, nodded back without a word.

"Now, to address whatever or whoever Drew is worried about…

"It's nothing, he's over-reacting as usual."

"Over-reacting? You're hooking up with a psychopath!"

"STOP!" She shut her kids down quickly. "Gabriella, explain to me where you were."

She sighed. "I was at…Troy's apartment."

"And who is Troy?"

"He's a…"

Isabella put her hand up to her son. "I was asking Gabriella."

"He's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? For how long? And why didn't we know?"

"Because I knew Drew would freak out about it. No one seems to want me to even speak to Troy, much less date him."

"If that's what you think it is, then you're crazy. He's not dating you, he just wants in your pants."

"So?"

"SO?! WHAT THE…?"

"FOCUS! Gabriella, I'm disappointed that you felt the need to keep it a secret from me. We don't keep secrets in this house."

"I'm sorry."

"Drew, please enlighten the both of us on what is your problem with this Troy?"

"He's not a great guy?"

"Why not?"

"Because he's messed up. He's got a crazy life. Drugs, women, no parents, in and out of the court systems."

"That's not true!"

"You don't know anything yet! There's a whole lot he hasn't even told you."

"How would you know?" Gabriella challenged.

"I just do, okay!"

"I'm curious too, Drew. How do you know so much about Troy?" His mother questioned.

He shrugged. "We have a history."

"What kind of history?"

Drew hesitated, but Isabella gave him a hard look. She was tired of all the fussing and she didn't want to prolong this talk any further. She wanted to get to the bottom of her children's current feud. "We experimented together. Back when he was just starting and before he went off into the deep end."

"Experimenting?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, you know weed and stuff."

"You smoked marijuana with this boy?"

"Briefly," Drew attempted to defend. "I was 16, I was stupid and I didn't know anything at the time. But I swear it only happened a few times and then I stopped. But Troy, he got hooked. And where is he now?"

"None of that is his fault! You think you know it all, but you're the one who doesn't know as much about him as you think you do."

"Oh please. You think whatever he told you is the truth? I know him Gabriella. He's just lying to you to get into your pants! And the worst part is I think you're actually falling for it."

Isabella went to open her mouth to stop the bickering, but Gabriella beat her to it. "That's where you're wrong! He doesn't need to lie to me to get into my pants."

Drew's eyes widened at the same time that Gabriella's did with realization of what she had just said.

"You had sex with him?!"

Gabriella shook her head. "That's none of your business."

"Like hell is it. Answer me!" He immediately broke the distance between them, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at him.

"Get off me!"

"What the hell are you thinking?"

"What the hell is your problem?" She asked finally tugging her arm loose from his grip.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Isabella stepped in between the two of them. "I'm sick and tired of this! You two are brother and sister, yet you act like you're each other's worst enemy."

"He started…"

"I said enough!"

With that, Gabriella closed her mouth, knowing better than to say anything now.

"Both of you are going to go back to your rooms, doors shut. And when I feel like, I'll be up there to talk to each of you. Until then I'd better not here so much as a peep of argument from either of you. We're going to start acting like a family, dammit. I understand that the incident from the other day is probably hard on and has been stressing out the both of you, but I refuse to let this tear us further apart. Now go!"

The two retreated upstairs, not bothering to utter a single word to each other as they locked themselves in their separate corners and Isabella hoped and prayed for there not to be a round 3.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**_Okay so admittedly, I haven't actually been working on my stories in the 2 days that I've been home, I've been more so being a bum, laying around and catching up on sleep, but I promise that tomorrow and Wednesday and Thursday, I will kick my ass into gear to have an update for No Good ASAP and of course FBH will be updated Friday. I will not let you down!_**

**_So enjoy the chapter! Oh and Happy 27th(I think it's 27 and gosh it makes me feel so damn old) birthday to Vanessa Hudgens! I happened to read a magazine today and she was highlighted in the horoscope section that her bday was Dec 14. And then I thought, holy shit that's today and yeah (:_**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Fine! I was with Troy! Is that what you want to fucking hear? I was with MY BOYFRIEND! Can I go now?"_

_Before she even had a chance to start up the stairs, Drew addressed her statement. "Boyfriend? You can't be serious?"_

"_And why can't I be serious?"_

"_Troy Bolton doesn't do girlfriends. He's not the type."_

"_How would you know his type? How do you even know anything about him? You keep warning me, but you haven't given me any facts to prove I should even pay any attention to you. He's not the guy you think he is and I would appreciate it if you and everyone else would stop making him out to be the worst guy on the planet!"_

_**xx**_

"_Oh please. You think whatever he told you is the truth? I know him Gabriella. He's just lying to you to get into your pants! And the worst part is I think you're actually falling for it."_

_Isabella went to open her mouth to stop the bickering, but Gabriella beat her to it. "That's where you're wrong! He doesn't need to lie to me to get into my pants."_

_Drew's eyes widened at the same time that Gabriella's did with realization of what she had just said._

"_You had sex with him?!"_

_Gabriella shook her head. "That's none of your business."_

"_Like hell is it. Answer me!" He immediately broke the distance between them, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at him. _

"_Get off me!"_

"_What the hell are you thinking?"_

"_What the hell is your problem?" She asked finally tugging her arm loose from his grip._

"_THAT'S ENOUGH!"_

**If thou must love me, let it be for naught except for love's sake only.**

** -Elizabeth Barrett Browning**

Chapter 13

Gabriella sighed as she lay in her bed later on that evening. She couldn't believe how fast everything had blown up in her face. Literally all she had wanted was to move out of her brothers shadow and explore her own individual possibilities.

She hadn't meant to get so involved with Troy so quickly, but once it started, there was no way for her to control it, stop it, or even slow it down. Her feelings for him had grown and spiraled beyond what she could resist. Now with her brother involved and with the circumstances of all that she now knew concerning her boyfriend, she wasn't sure where this was all going to go next.

Before she could contemplate any further, her cell phone started to ring from its place resting on her pillow. She rolled over and grabbed in, biting her lip as she saw the familiar name on the screen before she slid the accept button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello."

"Hey, you okay? Hadn't heard from you since you left."

Gabriella nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "I'm okay. I'm home, I was just…preoccupied with stuff. I hadn't really gotten the chance to text you back, I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's fine, I wanted to make sure everything was cool with us, especially after…" he trailed off and Gabi instantly knew what he was referring to.

"Troy…everything with us is beyond fine and there's no reason for you to think otherwise okay? I'm just dealing with some stuff here at home, I mean you know who my brother is."

"Yeah, unfortunately. About that, what's going on?"

She sighed, rolling back over so she was on her back again instead of her stomach. "It's nothing. Drew's overreacting as usual and it's just gone farther than it should this time."

"About me?"

"No…"

"Gabriella."

"Brie," she corrected him instantly. "And yeah, I guess it was about you. But then again not really."

"That doesn't make any sense. Either it was or wasn't about me?"

"You know, I don't really want to talk about this with you. I've been getting heat since I walked in the door last night, I'm done with this whole thing right now."

"So you really don't want to talk about it."

"No, I really don't."

"Okay…" he trailed off for a moment of silence before speaking again. "So I'd like to talk about something."

"Okay, Bolton, pray tell."

"Yesterday…."

Gabriella started to smile. "Okay yesterday. A lot of things happened yesterday. Wanna be specific?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Do I?"

"Playing dumb, Montez, that's not cute."

"Are you sure?" She answered him in a sultry voice.

"You're killing me, c'mon, stop it."

She giggled. "I didn't know I'd have that much of an effect on you."

"Are you kidding? Jesus Brie, I can't even put yesterday into words…"

"Oh? Was I that good? Guess I underestimated myself then huh? Little virgin Gabi…"

"Shut up!" Troy groaned back in response. "I'm just saying you're beyond sexy and yesterday… after you were done teasing me; I appreciated it more than you know."

She smiled, hiding a blush that he couldn't see anyway. "So what, you get some and you turn into a big ball of mush on me?"

"You're fucking hilarious, you know that?"

"Isn't that why you like me so much?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah yeah."

"Well I feel the same way," she spoke softly into the receiver.

"Yeah?"

"Yep." There was a long moment of silence before Troy breathed out.

"So I gotta go."

"Already?"

"Yeah," he nodded even though she couldn't see him. "I have some stuff to take care of."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, not even bothering to ask. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"Whether you take your pretty little ass to school." He chuckled.

"Well you know I'll be there. I just let you be a bad influence on me for a day. But what about you?"

"I'll see what I can do…"

"Troy…"

"Chill Montez, I'll be there. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Bet you would like that wouldn't you," Gabriella commented as she rolled over and stood up from her bed, all intention to catch up on the homework she missed while playing hooky at Troy's.

"Sure would," he answered and Gabriella could feel his smirk through the phone line.

"Goodbye Troy."

"Bye Brie."

*FBH*

Hours after her phone call with Troy, Gabriella was still working on homework, having called Taylor and figured out what she had missed out on. She had just been finishing up some Chemistry work and moving on to looking at her notes for an exam for Monday when there was a soft knock on her door.

"Yeah?" She called, her back to the door as she sat at her desk.

The door opened a tad. "Can I come in?"

Gabriella turned, seeing her mother standing in the door and nodded, bookmarking the page she was on in her book and turning to face her mother as she came in, shut the door, and sat on the edge of her teenager daughter's bed.

When she was silent for the first few minutes, Gabi decided to speak up. "Is everything okay Mom?"

Isabella nodded, collecting herself and looking at her daughter's confused facial features. "I just wanted to check in with you baby, make sure everything is alright."

"Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Gabriella, I know that what happened the other night is having a larger effect on you than you're letting us believe."

The younger woman in the room sighed, turning slightly away from her mothers gaze. "I'll be okay. It's not like it's something new, he's hurt us before."

"Mija, I can't give any explanation as to why your father showed up after all this time…"

"Then don't! He's an asshole Mom. Don't try to sit there and defend him or talk it out with me. He left when things got tough and he just thinks he can show up years later and make everything okay again. Who does that? Who thinks that?"

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't call him back and forgive him did you?"

"No, God, no. I'm just sorry that you and Drew had to go through it all. It would have been different if it were just me to go through all this drama with your father by myself but I never wanted to hurt you two.

And it's unfortunate because I'll never regret having you, you're the two best things that happened to me and if it weren't for your father, I wouldn't have you. I just wish there had been an easier way. A better man, different circumstances, something, anything. If I had never fallen in love with him…"

"You can't help who you fall in love with, Mom. And like you said, we were two good things that came from you being in love with him. He was a good a guy when you met him obviously or he put up a good front and things just ended up not working out. I don't blame you, but I blame him for not sticking around for his family. But if there's one thing I'm grateful for it's you and Drew. I just wish Drew would understand that he can't be my father; he can't control every aspect of my life. This is something we're going to have to live with. It sucks and it hurts, but it will be okay…eventually."

Isabella, sensing the tone changing, wanted to talk about something else with her daughter before leaving. "So tell me about Troy."

Gabriella laughed and blushed at the same time. "You've met him before. You actually let him in the house when I wasn't paying attention."

Her mother's mouth opened as she was hit with realization. "OH! That boy? That was Troy? Mija…"she trailed off and winked at Gabriella who blushed even harder. "He's very handsome," she corrected her behavior. "And from what I've seen, seems like a nice guy. Why is it that Drew hates him so much?"

"He is…a nice guy who has been given a bad hand in life the way I see it. Drew…he's listening and following all the rumors he heard, but he's judging Troy. He hasn't stopped and taken the chance to get to know him like I have."

Isabella was smiling brightly and knowingly at Gabriella. "Oh gosh, Mom stop!"

"I'm just…excited. It's interesting seeing you talk about him. I'm pretty sure this is exactly how I looked to my mother when I fell in love for the first time."

"Stop, Mom. I am not in love with Troy. We haven't even known each other long enough for that."

"Love doesn't have a timeline, Gabi. It happens when you least expect with who you least expect."

Gabriella scoffed. "And you think it's with Troy? I mean sure, I like him and I'm attracted to him and this whole mystery pretend bad boy thing he thinks he has going on but I wouldn't say I love him."

"Okay, whatever you say. I guess I have to go talk to your brother now. Hope he's as easy as you. I know everything really gets to him because he feels like he needs to be the man of the house, so he's to talking to my hard-headed son."

Gabriella giggled at her mother's sigh. "Good luck!"

"I'll need it!" She said as she walked out. She stopped momentarily at the door. "Oh…and don't think you're not grounded."

Gabriella's mouth dropped open. "For what?"

"For leaving the house late and not coming home, no phone call to say you were okay, skipping school, and spending the night at the house of a boy that I don't know and other things I'm sure you've done with this boy that we won't specifically talk about but I'm sure you know that I know about. To school, practice, and back for the next three weeks."

And with that her mother walked out of the room with a smile as Gabriella frowned and turned back to her homework.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_**This chapter is a bit of a filler, but no worries, I'm working on the next few. I've found that I get too overwhelmed working on more than one story at once, so to weed out delays on No Good (which is already technically delayed) I'm going to focus on finishing FBH first and then get back to it. Hopefully you guys aren't too mad, but the faster I get inspiration and finish FBH, the faster I can start working on NG again. So maybe I'll have FBH finished by the new year? Here's praying**_

_**Anyway, enjoy this chapter, ignore any spelling or grammatical errors because I'm only 20, I'm human lol. Make sure you REVIEW to tell me what you think and I'll see you with another update on Monday!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Shut up!" Troy groaned back in response. "I'm just saying you're beyond sexy and yesterday… after you were done teasing me; I appreciated it more than you know."_

_She smiled, hiding a blush that he couldn't see anyway. "So what, you get some and you turn into a big ball of mush on me?"_

"_You're fucking hilarious, you know that?"_

"_Isn't that why you like me so much?" Gabriella asked._

"_Yeah yeah."_

"_Well I feel the same way," she spoke softly into the receiver._

_**xx**_

"_Sweetheart, I'm sorry."_

"_For what? You didn't call him back and forgive him did you?"_

"_No, God, no. I'm just sorry that you and Drew had to go through it all. It would have been different if it were just me to go through all this drama with your father by myself but I never wanted to hurt you two. And it's unfortunate because I'll never regret having you, you're the two best things that happened to me and if it weren't for your father, I wouldn't have you. I just wish there had been an easier way. A better man, different circumstances, something, anything. If I had never fallen in love with him…"_

"_You can't help who you fall in love with, Mom. And like you said, we were two good things that came from you being in love with him. He was a good a guy when you met him obviously or he put up a good front and things just ended up not working out. I don't blame you, but I blame him for not sticking around for his family. But if there's one thing I'm grateful for it's you and Drew. I just wish Drew would understand that he can't be my father; he can't control every aspect of my life. This is something we're going to have to live with. It sucks and it hurts, but it will be okay…eventually."_

_**xx**_

"_I'm just…excited. It's interesting seeing you talk about him. I'm pretty sure this is exactly how I looked to my mother when I fell in love for the first time."_

"_Stop, Mom. I am not in love with Troy. We haven't even known each other long enough for that."_

"_Love doesn't have a timeline, Gabi. It happens when you least expect with who you least expect."_

_Gabriella scoffed. "And you think it's with Troy? I mean sure, I like him and I'm attracted to him and this whole mystery pretend bad boy thing he thinks he has going on but I wouldn't say I love him."_

"_Okay, whatever you say._

**If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.****  
-Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton**

Chapter 14

A week had gone by and things had started to cool down a bit for Gabriella. Of course, she was still grounded, so she did as told-school, practice if she had it, and back. It left little time for her to see and hang out with Troy outside of regular school times, but the upside was she still had her phone, so they kept in touch very well. Drew had settled back into his classes, crunch time coming up due to the semester being almost over and the amount of papers he had to write was growing immensely by day. Isabella threw herself back into her work as well, making it clear to Joseph that she did not want to see him or his new bride ever again. Any business he had with the family pertained to the kids in her opinion and she wanted no part of that. Drew and Gabi were adults and if they wanted to see their father, they would make that decision without her.

Gabriella was currently sitting in her Chemistry class, watching the clock intently, waiting for the bell to ring so that she could get on with her day. She had free next period and she just wanted a break from the day, plus it might give her a chance to see Troy.

Itching to get out, she tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently until the bell finally sounded in all its loud glory. She gathered her books and wasted no time getting out of there, all but flying out of the room before Taylor could stop her to talk. Believe me she loved Taylor, but she was not in the mood for talking to her best friend. She'd done so well at avoiding explaining to her best friend what was really going on and why she was actually grounded, but she had a feeling she wasn't going to be able to avoid it for much longer and it was best to avoid Taylor until she came up with a valid excuse for herself.

Turning the corner, she arrived to her locker, spinning her combination before shoving her Chemistry books into her locker. She then turned for the stairwell she knew Troy would be in, hoping to find him waiting for her since she had texted him last night about her free period today.

As she pushed open the doors, she found the back stairwell to be empty, not a person in sight and no remnants that anyone had been here within the last couple of hours. Strange. She could have sworn she'd seen him briefly this morning. Of course, she was running late, so she didn't really get a chance to speak, but she was sure that he had been leaning against a locker on his phone while surrounded by the necessary crowd that he hung out with, plus those few desperate girls that vied for his attention. This was usually when he took his smoke break anyway because he always had a free during 5th and then lunch, but Troy Bolton was not here today.

Huffing, Gabriella let the door close and stood in the now almost empty hallway. The bell was going to ring in a few seconds, so most people had hurried off to either class or wherever they'd decided they wanted to be this period. Gabi, however, was looking extremely lost.

As If sensing that she had been looking for him, there was suddenly noise from down the hall as Troy approached with 3 guys behind him, all 4 of them horsing around as they walked down the hallway. She stopped and smiled as she watched him make his way towards her. As he got to her finally, she reached for him and his hands came down to circle around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"Where were you?" She asked as they kind of had their own little moment, due to his friends hanging back a little bit. "I went to the stairs…"

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't realize you were going to come."

"I told you I had free period."

He nodded. "Yeah, forgot about that until last minute."

"What are you guys doing?"

He shrugged. "Not sure yet, but I'm not planning on being at lunch or the rest of the periods today."

"Why?"

He shrugged again and Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Seriously."

"I am being serious. It's not like we can plan these things, they happen on whim. We don't just up and decide to skip class one day, its spur of the moment."

"So what are you going to skip class to do?"

He sighed, avoiding the answer he was going to have to tell her eventually, but lucky for him, his sigh was all it took for her to figure it out. "I'm not gonna like it, am I?"

"Probably not."

She looked around, a contemplative look on her face. Troy watched her carefully before she looked back up at him, biting her lip. "Let me come with…"

Troy's head was shaking left to right in protest before she even finished her sentence. "No, not happening?"

"Why?" She pouted.

"Do we really have to go through this again Brie? We've talked about this way too much."

"Okay, then let's not talk about it and let's just go, I'm ready."

She started to move towards the guys he came with, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. "Brie, stop. I don't know what we're gonna get into and I'm not dragging you with me into the unknown."

"Well it's better to be together than apart if shit hits the fan right?"

"No, Brie, it's not."

"Well it's either I go with you, or you don't go!"

He took a deep breath, blue eyes staring into her own brown. "We're not doing this. You're not going to sit here and give me an ultimatum."

The guys Troy had come with started to notice as the tension rose between the couple. "Well, I'm not just going to sit here and let you fuck something up and not do anything about it."

"I've been doing this shit since before you came along and I can bet you, I'll still be doing it after you've gone, so don't think just because you're my girlfriend now means I'm going to change anything about myself."

"So you want to get in more trouble? You want to go to jail? And I'm just supposed to let it happen?"

"You're not _letting_ anything happen, I'm making the decision to do what I want."

"Troy please," Gabriella finally pleaded, closing her eyes exasperated by arguing with him. "Just think this over. Same way you don't want to drag me into the unknown, I don't want you walking into the unknown without me and then having to hear tomorrow that something bad happened and I just let you go."

Realizing that she was almost at the point of giving up and knowing that his intentions were not to start a fight, he ran a hand over his face as he pulled her to him in a hug, burying his face into her shoulder. He kissed what was exposed of her shoulder gently as his hands gripped tightly to her body, her grip mirroring his as she wrapped her arms tightly around his torso. Then he pulled himself away from her slightly and took her chin in his hand, pressing a very passionate and forceful kiss to her lips in reassurance.

"I'll call you when I'm back and I promise you that nothing will happen." He whispered and before she could even protest or say anything else to stop him, he had let go of her and was walking away with his friends, not looking back.

~FBH~

Gabriella had been sitting red-eyed with a tear-streaked face in her bedroom around 11pm that night when she heard a hard knocking on her bedroom window.

She'd finished the rest of the day at school, attending the rest of her classes and keeping pretty much to herself. She'd come home and given her mother one word answers before retreating to her room, barely coming out to eat a pretty silent dinner just the two of them.

As much as she'd tried to focus on other things, like the paper she had due in 2 days that she hadn't even started on yet. Instead she'd just started crying and she wasn't even sure why she was crying. Was she upset that he just left? Was she worried he was going to get in trouble? Was she scared that something bad would happen to him? Did she cry because he wouldn't let her go with him? She just wasn't sure and she definitely wasn't prepared for the emotions to hit her as hard as they did.

So when Troy was knocking on her window at a little bit past 11pm, she still was not sure where she stood emotionally, but she proceeded to open the window to let him in.

As she pulled the window open, he stumbled through it. "Hey, hey. Brie, hey."

"Troy…" she went to start, but he cut her off, getting through the window and placing his hands on her arms-whether to steady himself or get her to focus on him, she was not sure.

"I'm so fucking sorry. I'm a fucking idiot, I know."

"Troy you're drunk or stoned or whatever. You need to go."

"Look, I didn't fucking mean it. But I'm a fuck up, this is what I do best."

She shook her head. "You're not a fuck up, Troy. But you need to go home before someone realizes you're here."

He stumbled, over what she wasn't sure, and then gave her an unsure look. "I…I don't know…if I'll make it home."

"You can't stay here."

"Please…"

"Troy, no!"

"Gabi…Brie, I just…I need to know that you're not fucking done with me. I need to know that you don't want to be fucking done with me."

"Shh!" She tried to get him to be quieter and stop being so loud. "Troy, I can't. Okay, I can't, and you need to go."

"I…" he stopped and just stared at her. "What did I do? I screwed it up. You fucking hate me. I'm so fucking…"

"Troy!" Her hands forced his face to look at hers. Both of their eyes red but clearly for two different reasons. "I am so mad at you right now, I really am, and I really want to hate you with all of my heart…"

Troy's eyes dropped, looking down. "But," she continued. "Something won't let me. I care too much. And I need you….I need us to do this together, I need us to work this out together."

He opened his mouth to respond, but stumbled on his words. "I'm so…"

"Don't say sorry. Please stop saying sorry. I don't want to hear a sorry, I just want you to be here."

So he stayed. And they stayed together. Just being together and leaving all the heavy to be handled with later.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

_**Here's chapter 15. I just finished it last night and for some reason I really enjoy the end of it. I just like the way it looked after I wrote it. I'll be hanging out doing the Netflix thing today and getting some more typing in and hopefully I'll have the chapter for Friday and be a couple chapters ahead too. I am going to be traveling on Christmas Eve this year, so I'm expecting the journey to be long and tiring so please pray for me a safe journey and I will do the same with you all as well whether you travel or not as a safe and happy holiday. Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll update again Friday!**_

_**Spelling errors are likely and imminent and don't forget to REVIEW!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Well it's either I go with you, or you don't go!"_

_He took a deep breath, blue eyes staring into her own brown. "We're not doing this. You're not going to sit here and give me an ultimatum."_

_The guys Troy had come with started to notice as the tension rose between the couple. "Well, I'm not just going to sit here and let you fuck something up and not do anything about it."_

"_I've been doing this shit since before you came along and I can bet you, I'll still be doing it after you've gone, so don't think just because you're my girlfriend now means I'm going to change anything about myself."_

"_So you want to get in more trouble? You want to go to jail? And I'm just supposed to let it happen?"_

"_You're not letting anything happen, I'm making the decision to do what I want."_

_**xx**_

"_Troy you're drunk or stoned or whatever. You need to go."_

"_Look, I didn't fucking mean it. But I'm a fuck up, this is what I do best."_

"_Troy, no!"_

"_Gabi…Brie, I just…I need to know that you're not fucking done with me. I need to know that you don't want to be fucking done with me."_

"_Shh!" She tried to get him to be quieter and stop being so loud. "Troy, I can't. Okay, I can't, and you need to go."_

"_I…" he stopped and just stared at her. "What did I do? I screwed it up. You fucking hate me. I'm so fucking…"_

"_Troy!" Her hands forced his face to look at hers. Both of their eyes red but clearly for two different reasons. "I am so mad at you right now, I really am, and I really want to hate you with all of my heart…"_

_Troy's eyes dropped, looking down. "But," she continued. "Something won't let me. I care too much. And I need you….I need us to do this together, I need us to work this out together."_

**Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'****  
-Erich Fromm**

Chapter 15

Gabriella and Troy had been sleeping somewhat peacefully in her bed when the sun rose the next morning. Of course, Troy had stayed and they ended up curled up together on her bed together, Troy's head resting on her chest, his arms wrapped around her torso, while hers held on to his head. They hadn't spoke, they'd just layed there and Troy fell asleep with the feel of Gabriella's hands in his hair. Gabriella had stayed up, her brain running wild and getting the best of her. She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but this was the position she'd found them in when she opened her eyes the next morning.

Looking at the clock, trying not to move much, she realized that it was 6:42am. She was usually up by now and at least in the shower. First bell rang at 8 and she usually liked to be on her way to school by 7:30 at the latest, having a 15 minute ride and then 15 minutes to get herself ready before she had to be in homeroom.

She contemplated skipping for the day, but when she thought about all the work she'd missed that one day she stayed with Troy, she realized that it wasn't an option and moved on to thinking about how to successfully wake Troy.

Her thoughts were cut off by her bedroom door opening.

"Gabi, honey, it's later than normal and you're not up…" Isabella Montez paused in the entryway of her daughter's room, spying her daughter on the bed, her boyfriend wrapped in her arms. "Gabriella…" she started, her face hardening, but Gabriella was quick to stop her.

She moved out of Troy's grip swiftly, replacing her body with a pillow in which Troy didn't even notice the difference. "Mom before you say anything let me explain."

"Start explaining!"

Gabriella took her moms hand and led her out into the hallway to talk, cracking her door slightly. "Okay, so Troy came over last night…"

"Obviously!"

"But nothing happened, I swear! He…got into some trouble and couldn't go home. I didn't really want him to stay, but he didn't have another choice mom."

"You already know how I feel about this sort of thing."

"I know, mama, I know, but I promise I won't make a habit out of it, it was a one time thing."

Her mother breathed out heavily, looking into her daughters eyes wearily. "Mija, I'm going to tread carefully by saying this and hope that you understand where I'm coming from, but ever since I've started hearing Troy's name around this house, I've noticed a change in you…"

"And I can assure you that you're overreacting."

"You've never been a bad kid," her mother continued on with her worries.

"And I'm not now!" Gabi tried to defend herself. "Just…give me a minute to deal with this okay? I'll get him up and out of here and we can talk about it when I'm done."

Isabella sighed, her face screwing up slightly. "You still have school and I still have work and this conversation is going to need more time than we have this morning. Be sure you're on time from school this afternoon, we'll discuss it then."

"Thank you Mami!" Gabriella jumped up and wrapped her arms tightly around her mother. "You won't regret it and I'll explain everything, I promise."

"Just go get him up please," she motioned to Gabriella's bedroom before retreating back to her own.

Gabriella went back into her room, closing the door behind her approaching her bed cautiously. Troy was still curled up to her pillow, laying looking all vulnerable on her bed. She carefully climbed up, sitting on her knees next to him and watching him for a moment more before leaning down and pushing some hair out of his face, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Troy," she tried in a slight whisper. "Hey, I need you to wake up for me."

He groaned and let go of the pillow, rolling over away from her and she placed her hand on his back. "Troy, c'mon, you have to get up!" She spoke a little louder. He mumbled something, but didn't bulge from his position.

"Troy!" She leaned over his back and put her face directly in his. "Wake up!"

His eyes fluttered open slightly, blue meeting brown, before he shifted, inadvertently moving Gabriella off of him. "Fuck no," he said, closing his eyes again.

She sat back looking at him for a moment before shoving him, moving his body enough to disturb him but not enough to get him to get up.

"What the fuck Gabriella?" He asked, voice laced with sleep and eyes still closed, but sounding a little more alert.

"Get up!" She said, sitting back on her bed and looking at him.

"Fuck! What time is it?" He slowly lifted his head to search for a clock and Gabriella shrugged.

"It's about 7, and we have school in an hour."

"Fuck school," he said, letting his head drop.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going and that means you need to get up. My mom already knows you're here and you can't stay, so if you're planning to skip school, do that at your own place."

He sat up at her announcement combined with the tone of her voice, running a hand over his face in an attempt to wake himself up. "What do you mean your mom knows I'm here?" He paused, looking around her room for a moment. "What the hell happened last night?"

"I don't know, but you came here fucked up and apologizing and I let you stay." She then stood up from her bed, going to grab his jacket and shoes, shoving them into his arms. "But now you really have to go."

"Wait a minute," he stopped her when she went to grab his hand and push him out the door. No point in using the window anymore if her mother was already aware of his presence.

"There is no waiting. You need to go and I need to get ready for school." She was not avoiding looking at him and he caught on quickly to her change in mood even in his confused state.

"What did I do?" He asked softly and she shrugged.

"Why don't you tell me? As a matter of fact, don't tell me, just go."

"Brie, look whatever I said or did, you know I didn't mean it. I'm so…"

"I swear to GOD, Troy, if you utter the word sorry to me again I am going to go crazy. You don't even know what exactly it is that you're apologizing for. You're just doing it because you know I'm upset and you think it's what I want to hear. Well newsflash, it's not. I'm not doing this with you right now. You have to go."

She was pissed by now and Troy knew that. Rarely did Gabriella let herself get this angry and he was starting to learn that, but now that she had, that was another thing he had to learn; dealing with her when she was. Frustrated and still confused at the turn of events, Troy figured it best to pick a fight with her some other time. He silently put back on his shoes and jacket while she watched, equally silent, before standing and heading for the door.

He chose not to say anything and neither did she, following him out of her room and down the stairs to the front door. She noticed his bike parked a little ways away down her street and briefly wondered how he'd made it here in his state last night and if he would be okay getting back to his place now. However, she didn't voice her concerns aloud to him. And she didn't have to, because a moment later, he answered her thoughts out loud.

"I'll walk home," he volunteered to her. "Come back for it later, I guess."

She nodded without a word and he paused on the porch to see if she was going to say anything or continue on with his silence. When she didn't he scoffed, sticking his hands in pockets and starting off down the stairs. "Fucking perfect, Gabriella. I'll see you later. Call me when you actually want to talk to me."

Her mouth dropped. "You don't have the right to be mad at me right now!"

It was then that he lost his cool, turning around to face her full on, eyes blazing with anger. "WELL I AM! BECAUSE YOU WON'T TELL ME ANYTHING AND IF YOU WOULD FUCKING TELL ME WHAT IT IS I DID, THEN I COULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX THIS SHIT!" he screamed at her.

She shook her head. "I just realized it's not you that did anything Troy, it's all me. I fucked up this time. And I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to do this with you."

"WELL THERE IT IS! THERE'S THE FUCKING TRUTH! Feel better now?"

"YES!" She screamed back. "I feel a whole hell of a lot better now that I've finally realized what a selfish asshole my boyfriend is."

"Then what the fuck are we doing still standing around here talking about it."

She shook her head. "Go home, Troy."

He stared at her for a second longer, eyes burning into hers before he turned and walked off angrily without another word. Gabriella took that chance to walk back in the house, slamming the front door and feeling her knees give out from underneath her, leaving her sitting with her back against the door, tears streaming down her face in disbelief at what had just occurred.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

_**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! HAPPY HANNUKAH! JOYUS KWANZA! Whatever you celebrate, I hope it was and still is wonderful and exciting. I know mine was and still is, so I'm going to spend a little more time with my family, as you should with yours if you can. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll have another update on Monday. Don't forget to spare a few moments to REVIEW!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Gabi, honey, it's later than normal and you're not up…" Isabella Montez paused in the entryway of her daughter's room, spying her daughter on the bed, her boyfriend wrapped in her arms. "Gabriella…" she started, her face hardening, but Gabriella was quick to stop her._

_She moved out of Troy's grip swiftly, replacing her body with a pillow in which Troy didn't even notice the difference. "Mom before you say anything let me explain."_

"_Start explaining!"_

_**xx **_

_Her mother breathed out heavily, looking into her daughters eyes wearily. "Mija, I'm going to tread carefully by saying this and hope that you understand where I'm coming from, but ever since I've started hearing Troy's name around this house, I've noticed a change in you…"_

"_And I can assure you that you're overreacting."_

"_You've never been a bad kid," her mother continued on with her worries._

"_And I'm not now!" Gabi tried to defend herself. "Just…give me a minute to deal with this okay? I'll get him up and out of here and we can talk about it when I'm done."_

_**xx**_

"_Fucking perfect, Gabriella. I'll see you later. Call me when you actually want to talk to me."_

_Her mouth dropped. "You don't have the right to be mad at me right now!"_

_It was then that he lost his cool, turning around to face her full on, eyes blazing with anger. "WELL I AM! BECAUSE YOU WON'T TELL ME ANYTHING AND IF YOU WOULD FUCKING TELL ME WHAT IT IS I DID, THEN I COULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX THIS SHIT!" he screamed at her._

_She shook her head. "I just realized it's not you that did anything Troy, it's all me. I fucked up this time. And I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to do this with you."_

"_WELL THERE IT IS! THERE'S THE FUCKING TRUTH! Feel better now?"_

"_YES!" She screamed back. "I feel a whole hell of a lot better now that I've finally realized what a selfish asshole my boyfriend is."_

"_Then what the fuck are we doing still standing around here talking about it."_

_She shook her head. "Go home, Troy."_

**Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you.**

** -Loretta Young**

Chapter 16

It was almost as if Gabriella didn't exist in school that day. She didn't talk to anyone and no one spoke to her. Even Taylor, who was usually the first to break through her best friend's shell, decided it would be best to just leave her alone this time; she'd come around whenever she was ready.

Troy had skipped class, no surprise there, and Gabriella wasn't that shocked or hurt to see that he hadn't shown up. She went through her day and ended up home 3:20 on the dot, walking in the door just as her mother walked out of the kitchen.

"Oh, good, you're home."

Gabriella sighed, dropping her bag on the couch. "Yeah, you wanted to talk to me didn't you?"

"I do."

"Well then let's get it over with."

Isabella eyed her daughter for a second before she sat down across from her. "What happened?"

Gabi shook her head. "Nothing, I just really have homework to do, so I'd like to get my punishment out of the way."

"Honey, you're not being punished."

"But aren't I?"

"No, Gabriella…I just wanted to talk to you about whatever it is your going through. I want you to talk to me."

"There's nothing to tell. I made a mistake by falling for a guy who doesn't want me the same way I want him."

"Troy?"

Gabriella didn't answer, which gave her mother all the answer she needed.

"Baby, listen. Sometimes in life people don't realize what they've got. And then they push it away and it's gone. It's how the saying 'you never know how good you had it until it's gone' was started."

"Mom, stop, seriously…"

"Gabriella, you're in love with him," her mother blurted out. "I can see it, I can feel it. Whatever you and Troy have is special but when you love someone, you have to give up the other things in your life holding you back."

"That's just it mom, there's nothing holding me back! It's him, he just can't seem to get out of this haze and I can't take it anymore. I want to be with him, I really do, but I can't be the only one making sacrifices here."

"Sacrifices have to be made on both ends…"

"I'm trying, I really am, but I need him to try too."

"Gabi, sometimes a sacrifice means believing in a person."

"Mom, I do believe in him, but he needs to believe in himself. He has to want to stop. I can't help him if he won't help himself."

"It's the drugs…" Isabella spoke softly. "They take control of him and he loses sight of what is real. It's his out, his way out from the reality that is life."

Gabriella paused. "How did you know?"

"I'm a mother, I'm not blind nor stupid. Besides, Drew and I had a long talk and despite some of the over-reactions he has about Troy, I know that some of them just might be true and that he's attempting to look out for you."

"And I get the thing with Drew, Mom, I really do, but I don't always need him looking after me. It's nice to have and I'm extremely appreciative for it, but I don't always need it. Some situations I have to handle on my own and this is one of them. I don't need my brother fighting the battles I have with my boyfriend."

"Well I can't tell you what to do. I mean technically as your mother, I can as long as you're living in this house, but as far as the situation, you have to find out on your own. You have to figure out if whatever it is you to have is worth it, if you can withstand his bad habits or if he can withstand change to be with you. But, Gabriella, the moment of truth: you knew what you were getting into, so don't expect for him to just give in and change all for you. Of course, if he loves you and cares for you, it could be something that he decides to do, but you fell for him beforehand and you knew all about it. You can ask for a change, but you're in no way entitled to it. Love those for who they are; flaws, habits, and all."

Gabriella nodded as she folded her arms across her chest and stared out in thought.

"Take that and think about it and make a decision about what you truly want." Her mother then stood and exited the room, going back to making dinner in the kitchen. "And do your homework," she yelled back, making Gabriella smile as she got up and went up the stairs to do just that and then some.

~FBH~

"Gabriella!" Taylor called to her the next morning at her locker. "Hey, listen I know you're not really in the best of moods right now, but we need to talk…"

"Tay, I'm fine, what are you talking about?" Gabi said, turning from her locker to face her best friend head on.

Taylor, slightly stunned by her friends change in attitude, paused for a second to get her bearings. "Okay…well, uhm, yesterday you…"

Gabriella stopped her. "Yesterday was yesterday. I'm okay today, actually better than okay."

Knowing better than to ask how, Taylor shrugged. "Okay, well, I just wanted to let you know that there's a party going on tonight and…"

"Where? Let's go!"

"No, Gabi, I don't think you want to go to this party. Half of the school is coming."

Gabriella giggled. "So why wouldn't we want to be there Tay? C'mon, I bet you Chad is going and you know how you two get when you get a few drinks in you." She did a little shimmy for emphasis which made Taylor laugh for a moment before she caught herself and moved back to the task at hand.

"No, Gab, what I'm saying is that I'm not sure you'll want to go because…" But she trailed off when a big commotion started up in the hallway. Both of them turned to see Lindsay Manning, her and her skimpy wannabe followers in the middle of the hallway. Lindsay was her own version of Queen B at East High, because obviously Sharpay the Ice Queen was the real Queen B, but Lindsay liked to consider herself second in line, a creation based off of the Ice Queen herself.

But the fact that Lindsay and her minions were standing in the middle of the hallway wasn't what caught Taylor and Gabriella's attention. The show Lindsay was putting on was more of the reason why they'd stopped their conversation.

Lindsay and her minions had been dancing, slutty as ever moves right there in the middle of the hallway. And who was in the middle of all the commotion being danced on by Lindsay herself? Troy Bolton. And he looked very pleased to be in the position he was in. Lindsay had his hand in her own as she grinded her body against his, what music she was moving to, no one was sure.

It was the moment that followed their realization of the commotion, when Troy took his eyes away from the gyrating body in front of him and happened to look down the hallway, his blue eyes that were covered by a red hue, happening to meet the soft brown, which Gabriella had made up her mind.

"Of course I want to go to the party Tay. It'll be fun. Come by at 8, we'll get ready together." The bell rang, immediately putting a stop to their conversation. Gabriella smiled brightly as she shut her locker and turned to walk off to class. "See you in Chemistry!"

Taylor turned her attention back to the group, who despite the bell ringing, had not broken up their little congregation in the hall. She breathed heavily, clutching her books to her chest. "This is not going to bed good."


	17. Chapter Seventeen

_**Well hey! Is it Monday isn't it? Almost lost track of the days. I'm officially going back home tomorrow from visiting my family, and I know I didn't say it Friday but holiday travel has been a mess this year and although it was worth it to see my family, I'm just about ready to be back home. I'm ahead by one chapter in this story so when I get back home tomorrow and Wednesday, I'll type some more and then have an update for you Friday. Also, I have outfits to go with descriptions in my profile. **_

_**So enjoy this chapter and keep enjoying the holiday season! REVIEW!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

_Gabriella paused. "How did you know?"_

"_I'm a mother, I'm not blind nor stupid. Besides, Drew and I had a long talk and despite some of the over-reactions he has about Troy, I know that some of them just might be true and that he's attempting to look out for you."_

"_And I get the thing with Drew, Mom, I really do, but I don't always need him looking after me. It's nice to have and I'm extremely appreciative for it, but I don't always need it. Some situations I have to handle on my own and this is one of them. I don't need my brother fighting the battles I have with my boyfriend."_

"_Well I can't tell you what to do. I mean technically as your mother, I can as long as you're living in this house, but as far as the situation, you have to find out on your own. You have to figure out if whatever it is you to have is worth it, if you can withstand his bad habits or if he can withstand change to be with you. But, Gabriella, the moment of truth: you knew what you were getting into, so don't expect for him to just give in and change all for you. Of course, if he loves you and cares for you, it could be something that he decides to do, but you fell for him beforehand and you knew all about it. You can ask for a change, but you're in no way entitled to it. Love those for who they are; flaws, habits, and all."_

_**xx**_

_It was the moment that followed their realization of the commotion, when Troy took his eyes away from the gyrating body in front of him and happened to look down the hallway, his blue eyes that were covered by a red hue, happening to meet the soft brown, which Gabriella had made up her mind._

"_Of course I want to go to the party Tay. It'll be fun. Come by at 8, we'll get ready together." The bell rang, immediately putting a stop to their conversation. Gabriella smiled brightly as she shut her locker and turned to walk off to class. "See you in Chemistry!"_

_Taylor turned her attention back to the group, who despite the bell ringing, had not broken up their little congregation in the hall. She breathed heavily, clutching her books to her chest. "This is not going to bed good."_

**You can't blame gravity for falling in love.**

** -Albert Einstein**

Chapter 17

"Gabi, are you sure you want to do this?" Taylor asked as they stood in Gabriella's room later on that night. Gabriella had convinced her mother to let her invite Taylor over for a girl's night considering it was Friday. From there, she knew her mother wasn't going to allow too much too soon and then had concocted a plan from that for them to sneak out of her room to make it to the party and hopefully make it back before she realized they were gone. What made it better was Drew wasn't coming home this weekend, so the chances of her mother finding out were slim to none without him.

"Tay, it's just a party, lighten up," Gabriella said as she stood in front of the mirror putting makeup on. Isabella had come into the room to check on them a little while ago and they pretended to be into spa night, robes on over their clothes, hair tied up, and face masks on. As soon as she'd left the room, they'd both let their hair down and washed the gunk off their faces, and Gabriella went to work while Taylor sat back and watched.

Gabriella had dressed in a pair of black jeans paired with a gray cropped sweater that showed off her stomach. Her shoes were a pair of diamond studded, open toes heels and her accessories ranged from bangle bracelets and heart earrings to a flower ring and a simple necklace to match. She'd let her hair fall down her back in soft tangles that formed after her hair dried from her shower and attempted to do her makeup as smoky possible, finished with bright red lipstick. Taylor, not really having anything to prove tonight, settled on a simple black dress, belted around the waist with some black flats. She'd slightly curled and crimped her hair and fished out a beanie from her overnight bag to put on her head. She'd kept her makeup simple, not straying too far from the natural look she wore to school and also put on red lipstick, but a different shade. She'd accessorized simply with some rings on her hand, black clover shaped earrings and her moon and star pendant and sat down to finish watching Gabriella.

"I know it's just a party," Taylor started. "But I know that seeing Troy in the hallway with Lindsay today had to have been hard and…"

"Can we please not talk about that?" The Latina asked, turning away from the mirror momentarily to give Taylor a sharp look. "This is not about Troy. I would like to go out and have some fun with my best friend and her boyfriend. Is that a crime?"

"No it's not," she responded dejectedly.

"Okay, so can we please just go out and have fun tonight? Can we forget about everything just for tonight and enjoy ourselves for once?"

"We don't have to go to a party to have fun…"

"But we are, and I'm sure we're going to have fun. We can have an actual girls night tomorrow night if you want, but tonight, I just want to let loose."

"Okay, Gabriella, if it's what you really want to do…" Taylor stood up from the bed, ready to go but not exactly all that happy about it because she already had an idea about how tonight was going to go.

"It is, so please cheer up! Or at least pretend to put a smile on your face," Gabi answered her, putting her makeup down and turning to face her. "Let's have fun!"

Taylor gave in with the look on her best friends' face, a smile finally cracking through. "Okay, fine yeah."

"There goes my best friend!" Gabi wrapped her arms around Taylor in a hug and she hugged back just as her phone beeped on Gabriella's bed.

"Must be Chad," Taylor explained as she went to go open her text messages and respond.

"Awesome!" Gabriella took off her heels, threw them out her window before following with her body, carefully climbing down thanks to the vines her mother let grow up the side of the house as Taylor watched in disbelief. When she reached the ground, she grabbed her shoes and went running off excitedly to Chad's car, leaving Taylor to follow her extremely cautiously to ensure she didn't die before they made it to this insane party idea her friend had come up with.

~FBH~

Of course, by the time they got to the house somewhere deep in the woods around 11pm, the party was in full swing. Gabriella had hopped out of the car without caution and headed in, leaving Chad and Taylor to follow behind in an attempt to find her 5 minutes later when they finally left the car and made it inside.

She of course, immediately ran to the kitchen to find the drinks and was in the process of getting some guy to pour some type of alcohol into a red solo cup when they walked up.

"You're cute," the guy commented as he handed Gabriella the cup. "How come I've never seen you around before?"

Gabriella took it with a smirk on her face. "Maybe I've been here, you just didn't open your eyes enough to notice."

"Well I notice you baby, trust me," he responded looking her up and down.

"And she notices you too," Taylor interrupted. "But right now, you can notice each other from afar," She grabbed Gabriella's shoulders and steered her away from the guy and into the living room where Chad was waiting.

"Ease up, Tay," Gabi laughed, bring the cup to her lips to take a drink. Taylor's hand immediately reached out to take the cup from her before she could ingest it. "Hey!"

"You don't know what he gave you and I seriously don't recommend drinking it."

"Tay, it's a drink," Gabi defended taking it back from her. "And I think you seriously need one." She proceeded to drink it, leaving Taylor to look back at Chad, who shrugged in response.

"Mmm," the song changed and Gabriella thrust the cup towards Chad. "My favorite song! Tay, dance with me!" Gabi pulled her best friend along by the hand as she looked back at her boyfriend who raised Gabriella's forgotten cup in cheers and stood back to watch them.

With the alcohol in her system, Gabriella danced away, not a care in the world. Sometime after she'd started dancing, she'd lost Taylor when she went back to stand with Chad and they just watched as she danced and danced, occasionally stopped to go refill her cup. She ended up back with the same guy who had first made her a drink, in the living room grinding on each other as the music surrounded them.

It wasn't long before his hands ended up sliding down her waist and his lips ended up whispering in her ears, asking her to go upstairs. She'd nodded and in the split second that Taylor and Chad had taken their eyes off her to talk to each other, she'd disappeared from their sight when they turned back.

Gabriella went giggling up the stairs, holding the hand of a boy she didn't know as he led her down a hallway and to a somewhat secluded bedroom. Gabriella sighed with a smile as she sat down on the bed, watching as the guy moved to dig around in one of the drawers.

"What are you looking for?" she questioned, sitting back on her hands and watching him.

"Just some stuff," he answered with a smile.

"So you live here? This is your house and your party?"

"That a problem?" He asked, coming over to the bed with her, finally finding whatever he had been looking for in a small brown box that he took out of the drawer.

"Not at all," she smiled and picked her hand up to run it down his arm. "Great house, great party."

"And it just got 10 times better," he said as he pulled out a bunch of plastic baggies from the box he took. Gabriella looked down, immediately catching a hunch of what he had.

"Is that…" she trailed off, her hand falling as she was unsure of what to say.

"A little ganja, snow, acid, some H, Adderall in there too, I've got it all baby. Just tell me what you want." He smiled over at her and she looked back, extremely confused yet intrigued.

"I…I've never really tried this stuff before."

"Never?"

"Well," she blushed. "I've done weed before…"

"Well then the rest of them will be a piece of cake," he promise with a genuine smile. He pushed the box over to the side for a moment and took her hand in his, caressing it softly. "How about we try a little bit of each, I'll mix up something nice and sweet for you," he said before pressing his lips to hers in a sloppy kiss. She kissed back in her alcohol induced haze and when they pulled away, she bit her lip, looking into his eyes. She had a flash at that moment, bringing back thoughts of her dad and how he'd shown up out of the blue looking to just fix things with her and Drew, no problem. She'd thought about her brother, the overprotective, yet loving one he was and her mother, the kind hearted and good spirited woman who'd done all she could to give her children the best. But most of all, she thought of him. She'd been given the memories of them together in that moment, the time she'd first expressed interest in him and he'd shut her down. The times they'd interacted in the hallway at East High. She recalled the moment she'd showed up at his place and found him smoking weed with his friends and made the split second decision to join, the anger in his face aimed towards her the next morning. The tender intimate moment they'd shared with each other when she'd given him her virginity and he had told her everything about his past, every wrong turn he had made and every drug he had done.

And then, with just a simple nod of her head, in that moment sitting on the bed with some drugs and a guy whose name she didn't even know, she changed things forever.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

_**I have to apologize sincerely because the last couple of days have been a world-wind for me. Following coming back to home after visiting family, I ended up having to run errand after errand before the new year. And then I got a brief pause to celebrate the new year with my family and then I had to run more errands before coming back out to campus. Both Friday and Saturday were spent taking care of all the last minute loose ends at home and preparing to travel back, which I did on Sunday. I got back here, had to set up and go buy everything needed here and by the time I finished moving back in Sunday, I was completely and utterly tired. And then Monday I started my internship and I was there longer than expected. I got finished for the day and decided to catch up with some friends and then I went back in again this morning. I left out early today though, so I have a little time and of course, I knew I needed it to update you all. I'm working on the next chapter and hopefully I'll have it out by Friday for you all-a little something before I go back to class on Monday. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! As always, please leave a REVIEW and let me know what you think!**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_We don't have to go to a party to have fun…"_

"_But we are, and I'm sure we're going to have fun. We can have an actual girls night tomorrow night if you want, but tonight, I just want to let loose."_

"_Okay, Gabriella, if it's what you really want to do…" Taylor stood up from the bed, ready to go but not exactly all that happy about it because she already had an idea about how tonight was going to go._

"_It is, so please cheer up! Or at least pretend to put a smile on your face," Gabi answered her, putting her makeup down and turning to face her. "Let's have fun!"_

_Taylor gave in with the look on her best friends' face, a smile finally cracking through. "Okay, fine yeah."_

"_There goes my best friend!" Gabi wrapped her arms around Taylor in a hug and she hugged back just as her phone beeped on Gabriella's bed._

_**xx**_

"_You're cute," the guy commented as he handed Gabriella the cup. "How come I've never seen you around before?"_

_Gabriella took it with a smirk on her face. "Maybe I've been here, you just didn't open your eyes enough to notice."_

"_Well I notice you baby, trust me," he responded looking her up and down._

"_And she notices you too," Taylor interrupted. "But right now, you can notice each other from afar," She grabbed Gabriella's shoulders and steered her away from the guy and into the living room where Chad was waiting._

"_Ease up, Tay," Gabi laughed, bring the cup to her lips to take a drink. Taylor's hand immediately reached out to take the cup from her before she could ingest it. "Hey!"_

"_You don't know what he gave you and I seriously don't recommend drinking it." _

"_Tay, it's a drink," Gabi defended taking it back from her. "And I think you seriously need one." She proceeded to drink it, leaving Taylor to look back at Chad, who shrugged in response._

_**xx**_

"_A little ganja, snow, acid, some H, Adderall in there too, I've got it all baby. Just tell me what you want." He smiled over at her and she looked back, extremely confused yet intrigued._

"_I…I've never really tried this stuff before."_

"_Never?"_

"_Well," she blushed. "I've done weed before…"_

"_Well then the rest of them will be a piece of cake," he promise with a genuine smile. He pushed the box over to the side for a moment and took her hand in his, caressing it softly. "How about we try a little bit of each, I'll mix up something nice and sweet for you," he said before pressing his lips to hers in a sloppy kiss._

**Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.**

** -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.**

Chapter 18

"Wake up!"

"Go away!"

"If you don't get up…"

"Leave me alone!"

"Wake the fuck up, Gabriella!" Taylor said, pulling on the sheets she was laying on and dumping her on the floor for emphasis on just how much she wanted her out of the bed.

"What the fuck, Taylor? The fuck is your problem?" Gabriella groaned from her spot on the floor, rolling over in an obviously failing attempt to get bad on the bed.

"What's my problem? My problem? I don't think I have a problem, Gabriella…oh wait, yeah I do, my problem is you and the fact that you got wasted on whatever the hell you took last night and Chad and I were responsible for getting your dumbass back here and I had to cover for you with your mom! That's my problem."

"What are you talking about?" Gabriella struggled to stand and then ended up sitting back on the bed, trying to wake herself up like Taylor wanted.

"I'm talking about your carelessness last night!"

"Tayl…" Suddenly Gabriella's eyes, which were barely open, widened as far as they could go and she threw her hand up over her mouth.

"Gabriella, are you listening to me?" Taylor asked, but Gabi went running to the bathroom, immediately puking when her head came in contact with the porcelain bowl. Taylor sighed, following her friend and sitting on the side of the bathtub, grabbing her hair and pushing it out of her face while she emptied the contents of her stomach into the commode.

Taylor watched her sigh and sit back against the wall a minute later, wiping her mouth with her forearm. "What the hell happened last night?" She croaked, voice hoarse from throwing up.

"What happened? Gabi, I have never seen you like that before."

"Tay…"

"No! Let me finish! Gabriella, I don't know what is it that came across you last night, but doing drugs, drinking alcohol, popping pills, making out with some random dude. I feel like I don't know you at all anymore."

"I'm sor…"

"Don't! Okay, look, I understand that whatever is going on with you and bad boy Troy is far beyond what I could ever know and I get that you don't want to talk to me about it because it's new territory to you, but for Christ sake, I'm your best friend, or at least I thought I was. But this…last night…that wasn't you at all. And I'm afraid for you."

Gabriella just sat there, looking at her, trying to keep herself from vomiting again. Taylor sighed. "Look I know you're probably coming down off of whatever you have in your system, so listening to me yell at you probably isn't what you want to do right now, but I needed to get that off my chest. I was so pissed at you last night." Taylor stood from the tub and looked down at her friend. "I'm gonna go and let you sober up alone. Call me when you get your mind right. There's Advil and water on your nightstand for you."

Taylor stepped over Gabriella's limp legs and out of the bathroom. Gabriella briefly heard her rummaging around in the bedroom before she heard her footsteps retreating down the stairs. She briefly heard voices and figured it was conversation between Taylor and her mother before she mustered up the strength to drag herself back to her bed. She paused for a second to take the Advil with the water and lay her head back on her pillow and pull the sheets up to her neck just as her mother came in the room.

"Hey, sweetheart. Taylor said you weren't feeling too good, everything okay?"

Gabriella just nodded from her position under the covers. Her mother walked closer, gently placing a hand to her daughter's head. "Mija, you're burning up."

"I'm okay," she mumbled. "I just need a few hours to sleep it off."

Isabella nodded. "Okay. Well I guess I should let you sober up before I lecture you on the effects of sneaking out of the house and going to a party and drinking too much alcohol."

Gabriella wasn't even alert enough to care that her mother knew about what they'd done last night. All she could think in her half-awake state as her mother walked out of the room was that she was glad she didn't even know the half of it. And seconds later, she was out, just like that.

~FBH~

Monday morning was hell for Gabriella. Of course, she was in a whole new world of trouble.

She hadn't actually sobered up from Friday night until Sunday morning. So bright and early, she was sitting at the kitchen table listening to her mother lecture and being dished out another sentences of 3 more weeks grounding.

Then she had called Taylor, who of course had more to say to her about how idiotic she had been Friday night, definitely giving her best friend a piece of her mind and then some.

So Monday, when she walked into school, she wasn't prepared for the entire East High student body to be staring at her.

Sighing, she continued on to her locker, trying her hardest to ignore the stares. There were whispers too, even laughter from some people. She knew that somehow it all had to be related to Friday night, but she wasn't sure how.

As she grabbed the books she needed out of her locker, she suddenly felt a hand clasp onto her backside. She whipped around and came face to face with the guy from Friday night.

"Hey sexy," he said, leaning down in an attempt to kiss her.

Gabriella stood a big step sideways and away from him, making him laugh. "What? All of a sudden it's Monday morning and you're too good for me?" She moved back to her locker and proceeded to ignore him. "You sure weren't acting like this the other night when you were getting what you wanted," he said into her ear as he pressed himself against her back. She elbowed him and got ready to tell him off when Taylor appeared on the side of them.

"How about I give you something you don't want unless you back off," she spoke calmly, looking at the unknown boy, Chad suddenly appearing behind her to back her statement up.

"Whatever," the boy responded, hands in the air in surrender. He then smiled at Gabriella who had turned around to glare at him. "Call me if you decide you want a repeat beautiful. I'm down whenever, wherever."

Chad then stepped closer to him and he immediately ran off, leaving the three at Gabriella's locker. "Thank you," she greeted them.

"Well you wouldn't have had to thank us if…" but she was cut off by Chad's hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm his girlfriend because he figured Gabriella did not want nor need another lecture. He, of all people, knew how Taylor got.

Gabriella shot him a grateful look. "How many times do I have to apologize? I don't know what I was thinking and yes, I do know that I'm an idiot. I don't even know that guy's name, it's that bad. But can you please just let me deal with this now without any more lectures from you. You're not the only one who's disappointed right now Tay, get in line."

Taylor nodded. "Well, I just thought you'd want to know that there is a video. It explains why everyone is staring and acting all high school cliché. Watch it, you'll want to know. It was forwarded to everyone."

Gabriella sighed. "Just freaking great. Exactly what I need right now."

Taylor nodded and turned without another word and Chad stopped long enough to place a comforting hand on Gabriella's arm before disappearing behind his girlfriend.

Gabriella went back to her locker and her things when suddenly the locker was pushed closed in front of her, just narrowly missing her face. She jumped back and turned, ready to curse out whoever had done it when she looked up just in time to see those familiar blue eyes staring back at her.

"What the fuck is going on?" Troy asked, eyes blazing as he looked at her, waiting expectantly for an answer to his question.

Gabriella only swallowed, too scared by the look in his eyes to properly formulate and answer. Instead all she could think was '_oh boy!_'


	19. Chapter Nineteen

_**So I won't lie, this chapter is a complete filler. Feels like I've written a lot of those lately, but I promise the chapters coming up will be much better. I'm assuming maybe this story will go to chapter 25 or around that, but I haven't finished it yet, so don't hold me to that number. **_

_**I also want to apologize that this chapter is so late in the day. It's still Friday where I am so that's a plus, but I had full intentions to finish this chapter earlier today but I got some news and had some issues that ended up with me driving all over the state for most part of the date trying to get my life together before classes start on Monday. I think that's also part of the reason why the second half of the chapter is so...filler-y. I had such a great idea for the second half and being out all day and having to drive nearly 6 hours threw me off a bit and at one point I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss updating today. **_

_**Anyway, I have quite a relaxing weekend ahead of me so in between reading and watching my new obsession Making a Murderer on Netflix, I hope to crank out at least 2-3 chapters. So enjoy the first half because I really don't like the second half myself, but I promise to do better. Make sure you leave me a REVIEW! I love getting notifications for and reading them (:**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_What the fuck, Taylor? The fuck is your problem?" Gabriella groaned from her spot on the floor, rolling over in an obviously failing attempt to get bad on the bed._

"_What's my problem? My problem? I don't think I have a problem, Gabriella…oh wait, yeah I do, my problem is you and the fact that you got wasted on whatever the hell you took last night and Chad and I were responsible for getting your dumbass back here and I had to cover for you with your mom! That's my problem."_

"_What are you talking about?" Gabriella struggled to stand and then ended up sitting back on the bed, trying to wake herself up like Taylor wanted._

"_I'm talking about your carelessness last night!"_

_**xx**_

"_Hey sexy," he said, leaning down in an attempt to kiss her._

_Gabriella stood a big step sideways and away from him, making him laugh. "What? All of a sudden it's Monday morning and you're too good for me?" She moved back to her locker and proceeded to ignore him. "You sure weren't acting like this the other night when you were getting what you wanted," he said into her ear as he pressed himself against her back. She elbowed him and got ready to tell him off when Taylor appeared on the side of them._

"_How about I give you something you don't want unless you back off," she spoke calmly, looking at the unknown boy, Chad suddenly appearing behind her to back her statement up._

"_Whatever," the boy responded, hands in the air in surrender. He then smiled at Gabriella who had turned around to glare at him. "Call me if you decide you want a repeat beautiful. I'm down whenever, wherever."_

_**xx**_

_Gabriella went back to her locker and her things when suddenly the locker was pushed closed in front of her, just narrowly missing her face. She jumped back and turned, ready to curse out whoever had done it when she looked up just in time to see those familiar blue eyes staring back at her._

"_What the fuck is going on?" Troy asked, eyes blazing as he looked at her, waiting expectantly for an answer to his question._

_Gabriella only swallowed, too scared by the look in his eyes to properly formulate and answer. Instead all she could think was 'oh boy!'_

**A young woman in love always looks like Patience on a monument, Smiling at Grief.**

** ~Jane Austen**

Chapter 19

"I'm talking to you," he said when she didn't answer his question.

"Troy," she tried, but he wasn't in the mood to hear it.

"Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you?"

She paused, figuring she'd wait for him to get his anger out in questions before she attempted to answer him.

"Answer the question!"

"Which one do you want me to answer first?" She retorted.

He glared. "I'm not fucking playing a game here Gabriella."

"Neither am I," she answered, turning to pick up her bookbag and walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To class," she said back without turning around.

Troy growled, catching up to her and snatching her arm, pulling her back to him. "I'm not done talking to you."

"Get off me!"

Looking around and realizing the attention that they had generated and how many eyes were on them, he gripped onto her harder. "C'mon," he grumbled out and she followed, angry, but silent, figuring she might as well let him get this out sooner rather than later.

He led her to the all too familiar stairwell and as soon as the door closed and they were alone, he was glaring at her again. "So tell me, are you fucking insane?"

"I'm not insane," she answered calmly, too calmly for him in fact.

"So what is it? What would possibly possess you to go out there and do drugs? With a person you don't know, might I add, so anything could have happened to you. And to top it off, there's a video of you in a drunkenly high stupor off whatever the fuck you took, dancing half naked on top of a table with this guy. If it weren't for Taylor and Chad, I'm not sure where you would be right now."

When he stopped, she eyed him. "You done?"

"NO! I want to know why. After everything we talked about and all the shit I've told you that I've been through as a result of drugs and you do this?"

"Just stop it okay! Stop being such a damn hypocrite!"

"I think I have a right! If anybody can be a hypocrite, it anyone can judge you and tell you that what you're doing is wrong, it's me!"

"You have no idea…"

"Please don't tell me all this is because of me?"

Gabriella stopped and looked him in the eye, refusing to say anything.

"It is, isn't it?"

"I'm done talking to you," she prepared to walk away, but Troy was quick to block her exit.

"Well, I'm not done talking to you," he countered.

"You know what, I can't do this with you Troy. Seriously, you have no idea what it's like."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"To have your heart broken? To fall in love with someone, so entirely deeply and have something you believe is completely amazing, and to feel like you mean nothing to that person. I doubt you know what it feels like to have the person you would do ANYTHING for, basically prove that you're not as important to them as they are to you. To see that same person throw away something you thought was going so well in just a time span of 24 hours, not even caring to try and fix it."

Troy was speechless, staring at Gabriella in shock, until she shook her head.

"I can't do this with you because truth is, I love you too much and I fear you don't love me enough."

When she walked away this time, Troy didn't attempt to stop her and he was left standing in the stairwell just as the bell for homeroom rang.

~FBH~

When Gabriella got home that afternoon, she wasn't that surprised to see Drew was home. A little part of her was because it was Monday and Drew usually didn't come home until Thursday or Friday depending on his classes, but considering he went to UofA, it wasn't all that surprising. It was maybe a 30-45 minute drive to her house from there.

She closed the door and dropped her bag and he looked up at her from his spot on the couch. "Well, well, look who's finally home."

Gabi rolled her eyes. "Please Drew, not today."

"Not today? What you and your boyfriend broke up over that little video of you that surfaced? Very hypocritical of him, isn't it?"

She closed her eyes for a moment. "You saw the video?"

"Who didn't? Believe it or not, it's all over the UofA campus."

"So you came home to yell at me some more?"

Drew sighed. "Originally that was my plan, but, I don't know, you don't look so great."

Gabriella scoffed. "Since when do you care about how I look or feel? Or better yet, what I want?"

"I'm still your brother, Gabs, I do care about you."

"Well you have a funny way of proving it sometimes."

Drew glared. "So Troy broke up with you and now you're taking it out on me? I'm just trying to help."

"You don't know anything about that situation, so stop talking," she warned him immediately.

"Sore spot?"

"Drew, seriously. I'm not in the mood for your games today."

"Better off without him anyway. I told you he was no good for you. It's his fault you're even in this situation…"

"Drew…."

"Matter of fact, I don't know what's worse. The fact that he corrupted you or the fact that he had the nerve to dump you after he did so. Maybe you're better at being a druggie than he is…"

"FUCK YOU!" Gabriella screamed. "I made a mistake and I've just had the worst day of my life and all you can do is sit here and make jokes about it. I guess you're happy now, you got what you always wanted: Troy and I are done, over with! Now you can happily go on knowing you successfully got what you wanted. Now leave me alone."

She was quick to turn around and grab her back, making her way up to her room, slamming and locking the door.

Isabella, having heard yelling from the living room had emerged from the kitchen just in time to catch Gabriella leaving, hearing the indication that she did not want to be bothered and looked at Drew accusingly.

He raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't do anything, I swear. I was just asking questions and she blew up at me."

"Well I suggest we just leave her be for now then," she rolled her eyes and turned around, heading back into the kitchen, knowing better than to get involved in their drama.


	20. Chapter Twenty

_**So as it turns out, I seem to be much more focused and in the zone as far as writing when I'm hungover. I know this chapter is so long overdue, but I promise that I can make up for it because I'm nearly done with this story now. I'm ahead and I have a chapter or 2 more to go before I finish and then I'll focus on NG. **_

**_This chapter is for someone I consider a very good friend of mine, who is grieving the loss of a friend right now. I would like everyone to keep her and all of her friends and family in their prayers. It won't bring him back, but hopefully seeing an email for an update will bring a smile to your face because I know that's what he would want you to be doing in his absence. You know who you are, I hope you are reading this and I hope you know despite distance, I'm here when you need me. Stay Strong!_**

**_Enjoy the chapter, please leave a REVIEW for me if you have time, they make me smile_**

**_~Crystal_**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_You know what, I can't do this with you Troy. Seriously, you have no idea what it's like."_

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_To have your heart broken? To fall in love with someone, so entirely deeply and have something you believe is completely amazing, and to feel like you mean nothing to that person. I doubt you know what it feels like to have the person you would do ANYTHING for, basically prove that you're not as important to them as they are to you. To see that same person throw away something you thought was going so well in just a time span of 24 hours, not even caring to try and fix it."_

_Troy was speechless, staring at Gabriella in shock, until she shook her head._

"_I can't do this with you because truth is, I love you too much and I fear you don't love me enough."_

_**xx**_

"_You don't know anything about that situation, so stop talking," she warned him immediately._

"_Sore spot?"_

"_Drew, seriously. I'm not in the mood for your games today."_

"_Better off without him anyway. I told you he was no good for you. It's his fault you're even in this situation…"_

"_Drew…."_

"_Matter of fact, I don't know what's worse. The fact that he corrupted you or the fact that he had the nerve to dump you after he did so. Maybe you're better at being a druggie than he is…"_

"_FUCK YOU!" Gabriella screamed. "I made a mistake and I've just had the worst day of my life and all you can do is sit here and make jokes about it. I guess you're happy now, you got what you always wanted: Troy and I are done, over with! Now you can happily go on knowing you successfully got what you wanted. Now leave me alone."_

**I have to remind myself to breath – almost remind my heart to beat!**

** ~Emily Bronte**

Chapter 20

In the days following Gabriella's conversation with Troy, she kept to herself. When she was at school, she was practically non-existent, while at home she was reduced to answering her mother and brother with one liners and then disappearing to be alone.

Eventually, talk at school about her wild night partying had died down and people found something new to whisper about in the halls, leaving Gabriella at peace. However, it didn't make the situation any better just because people decided not to talk about it anymore.

Taylor had given up lecturing Gabriella on her bad choices and made the decision to honor her best friends' wishes at pretty much wanting live in solitude. They hadn't really spoken in weeks and in the times that they did, it wasn't long conversations in which they caught up. Identical to her conversations with Isabella and Drew, Taylor got one liners and answers to questions she might have asked, but no real conversation.

The boy she'd gotten and done the drugs with, who she later found out his name is Darius, had only continued to bother her daily, never giving up hope that Gabriella might change her mind and later want to be involved with him. Needless to say, she wasn't planning on changing her mind, but it looked like he wasn't planning on leaving her alone either. However, he did turn out to be good for one thing as far as Gabriella was concerned.

Taylor opened the girls restroom during the middle of 4th period to reveal her best friend bent over the sink with her back turned to the door. Gabriella turned and spotted Taylor, quickly sniffling and wiping her face and then turning around back to the sink, hands moving quickly.

"H…hey, Tay. Wh…what are you doing here?"

Taylor stopped and eyed her friend suspiciously as she finally turned around, attempting to straighten her clothes out. "In the girls' bathroom? Why else would I be here Gabi." She tried peaking around her. "The question is what were you doing in here?"

"Oh me? Nothing, just…" she looked around the bathroom suspiciously "my eyes had been bothering me so I came in here to put my eye drops in is all."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Is _that_ why your eyes are all red?"

Gabriella rubbed at her eyes for a second. "They're red?"

"They are," Taylor responded. "And it doesn't seem like it's because you had something stuck in them…"

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to say, Taylor."

"Be honest with me, what were you really doing?"

"I already told you!"

"And that's bullshit!" Taylor counted back, stalking over to her friend and pushing her out the way before inspecting the place on the sink where she had been standing moments before.

"Taylor…"

Taylor was quick to run her hands on the counter and pulled her hand back up to her to find the same white substance Gabriella had failed to completely remove, coating her hand in a thin layer. "Is this…?"

"It's not what you think…"

"You're doing cocaine?"

"No!"

"You are! What the hell Gabriella! Cocaine! Of all things! A little weed I can deal with, some pills that aren't prescription aren't as bad, but cocaine?"

"Okay, you've said it enough, you don't have to keep repeating it."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't repeat. Are you freaking insane?!"

"I'm not insane," Gabriella defended, turning back to the mirror and pulling makeup from her bag to fix her face.

"You must be! Sniffing cocaine in the girls' bathroom at school!"

Just then a freshman girl decided to enter the bathroom. Upon seeing the two girls standing there facing each other and looking as if they were in the middle of an intense discussion, she paused and slowly started to back up. "I'll just use the other bathroom," she said before disappearing.

"See what I mean!" Gabriella said. "You don't have to shout it out to the whole world what I do in my free time. It's no one else's business."

"Free time? It's 4th period!"

"Can you just drop this?"

"No, I will not!"

Gabriella groaned and attempted to move around her to leave, but Taylor blocked the doorway. "You're blowing this way out of proportion, Taylor."

"Please tell me how Gabriella. Tell me how you don't see this as a big problem?"

"Because it's my life! And I can do whatever the hell I want with it. I can smoke weed, do crack, be a prostitute, and anything else I so choose. Don't think that you have some sort of control over me and that I'll just do whatever saint Taylor thinks is best. You don't know me as well as you think you do anymore, so do me a favor and mind your own fucking business McKessie."

Taylor watched silent and pissed as Gabriella walked out of the bathroom and another girl came in, this time a sophomore, who eyed Taylor before going to do her business. "Guess you're right Gabriella," she spoke softly to herself before disappearing out of the bathroom as well.

~FBH~

"Can you just try talking to her?" Taylor pleaded. "For me?"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Well one, I don't know you." Taylor copied him by rolling her eyes. "And two…no."

Taylor signed and looked towards Chad, who only shrugged as he looked back at her. Chad had knowledge of Troy, but they had very few interactions with each other, most of which was only because of the basketball team. Definitely not enough for him to ask for a favor. Unfortunately this was all his girlfriend.

"You are no help," she muttered to him. "Troy, please. I don't know what's up with her, but I'm concerned."

"And I get it, I do. She's your best friend you want to help her…"

"Yes," she quickly agreed, but Troy was not giving up his stance.

"But unfortunately, it has nothing to do with me anymore. She's not my problem. And I guarantee you that talking to me is the last thing she wants to do."

"How can you say that?"

Troy eyed her. "Easy, because the last time she spoke to me, she told me she was done with me. I don't know what that means to you but…"

"Okay, whatever, look Troy, I'm done asking you, now I'm begging you. You need to talk to Gabriella. You're the only one she'll listen to at this point."

"And just how do you figure that?"

"Because you're the only one that will understand what she's going through! You didn't see what I saw in that bathroom Troy. She's….she's not herself."

"What does that mean?"

Taylor played with her hands slightly. "I'm afraid the party was just the first of trying out some newfound hobbies."

Troy's eyes narrowed. "She's not…"

"She is! I guess she's keeping up with that guy, I…I caught her doing cocaine in the bathroom during 4th period yesterday. And she acted like nothing was wrong, I just…I don't want her to get caught up in something that I know isn't her."

"Taylor…"

"No! Troy, you know what. This is the least you can do! Because it's all your fault!"

"My fault?"

"YES! If it weren't for you playing your stupid fucking games with her, she would have never went to that party and she would have never done what she did. And I don't know what you said to her last week, but it's gotten even worse. So if you have any once of dignity in yourself or if you actually care about my best friend, you would just _consider_ doing this. To help her, save her from herself. Believe it or not, she thinks a lot more highly of you than most people do, so why don't you prove me any anyone else who ever doubted her about you wrong?"

When he didn't say anything, Taylor frustrated, gave up. "Or do what you want. Come on Chad, Troy's not in it, so I guess I'll have to think of some other way to help Gabi."

She turned and Chad sighed, silently looking to Troy who was standing still, jaw set as he looked like he was having some intense inward battle with himself.

"Do you love her?" Chad asked suddenly, bringing the young man from his thoughts.

Troy didn't answer, but just by the look on his face, Chad didn't need him to. "Fight for her."

And with that, he followed his girlfriend, leaving Troy to make his decisions.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

_**So now that I have officially run out of valid ideas for this story, I can officially tell you it has 23 chapters. I knew how I was gonna start and end this story and I just had to write the in between. So hopefully the ending doesn't feel too rushed. 2 more chapters to go. I hope you all enjoy and please be sure to leave a REVIEW when you are finished reading because although I am always super busy, I do get a chance to at least glance at my emails once a day and I enjoy seeing review notification emails (:**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Be honest with me, what were you really doing?"_

"_I already told you!"_

"_And that's bullshit!" Taylor counted back, stalking over to her friend and pushing her out the way before inspecting the place on the sink where she had been standing moments before._

"_Taylor…"_

_Taylor was quick to run her hands on the counter and pulled her hand back up to her to find the same white substance Gabriella had failed to completely remove, coating her hand in a thin layer. "Is this…?"_

"_It's not what you think…"_

"_You're doing cocaine?"_

"_No!"_

_**xx**_

"_Can you just drop this?"_

"_No, I will not!"_

_Gabriella groaned and attempted to move around her to leave, but Taylor blocked the doorway. "You're blowing this way out of proportion, Taylor."_

"_Please tell me how Gabriella. Tell me how you don't see this as a big problem?"_

"_Because it's my life! And I can do whatever the hell I want with it. I can smoke weed, do crack, be a prostitute, and anything else I so choose. Don't think that you have some sort of control over me and that I'll just do whatever saint Taylor thinks is best. You don't know me as well as you think you do anymore, so do me a favor and mind your own fucking business McKessie."_

_**xx**_

"_She's not…"_

"_She is! I guess she's keeping up with that guy, I…I caught her doing cocaine in the bathroom during 4__th__ period yesterday. And she acted like nothing was wrong, I just…I don't want her to get caught up in something that I know isn't her."_

"_Taylor…"_

"_No! Troy, you know what. This is the least you can do! Because it's all your fault!"_

"_My fault?"_

"_YES! If it weren't for you playing your stupid fucking games with her, she would have never went to that party and she would have never done what she did. And I don't know what you said to her last week, but it's gotten even worse. So if you have any once of dignity in yourself or if you actually care about my best friend, you would just consider doing this. To help her, save her from herself. Believe it or not, she thinks a lot more highly of you than most people do, so why don't you prove me any anyone else who ever doubted her about you wrong?"_

**Love is a friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.**

** ~Ann Landers**

Chapter 21

His hand was situated on her thigh. He was making attempts to move up higher, feeling around, testing the waters. Normally she would have slapped his hand away, told him to fuck off, and maintained her dignity by walking away, but she was way too high to really comprehend the situation enough to care.

Gabriella sat on the dirty couch at some abandoned house in some unknown part of time with a bunch of unfamiliar faces. The only face she knew happened to be the one right beside her and it was Darius, who was currently as much out of his mind as she was, heavily feeling her up.

She wasn't quite aware what she had taken, she'd just trusted Darius when he said he'd scored and they showed up at the house hours later to 'hang' with his so-called friends. He'd handed her the bong as well as the pills and she took care of both of them, chasing it with whatever was in the red cup that ended up in front of her. She wasn't sure of anything anymore and being high gave her the best sense of her life than anything else could right now, so she wasn't hesitant to enjoy it. But was it enough to make her forget all together?

Staring ahead watching as some girl who seemed just as out of it as she did, she observed the girl give some too skinny, sick looking bald guy a lap dance. She had a cup of something in her hand, barely had on clothes, hair disheveled, eyes red, and makeup caked and running off her face. Somehow, Gabriella was conscious enough to look at the girl and pull herself out if it.

She stood, wobbly on her feet, effectively making Darius' hand drop as he leant sideways on the couch in her absence. "Gabr… where you going babe?"

Gabriella attempted to steady herself, but the room was spinning. "I need the bathroom," she mumbled before turning and disappearing, stumbling down the hallway, bumping into the dirty brown walls she could see with the wallpaper peeling off, surprising herself when she finally did find a bathroom.

She entered the room and shut the door locking it and falling to the floor. The bathroom was past dirty. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years – which was probably an accurate statement – and there was residue of too many different substances than she could keep track off. The variety of colors decorating the bathroom would have concerned and grossed her out in a sober state of mind, but she was fucked up and the only thing she could actively consider was that she was indeed fucked up.

She sat on the cold, dirty floor, staring at the toilet, wondering in the back of her mind if she was seeing blood of feces and trying to figure out whether she had enough energy and stableness to make it out of here. She needed to go, that she knew. She didn't need to be here right now, that she also knew. However, with the in between of normal Gabriella and drugged up Gabriella at odds, fighting herself, she didn't know how she would accomplish anything.

Gabriella would have loved to put the blame of her current position on anyone but herself, but she knew better than that. She'd made these decisions on her on. She'd decided to seek out Troy Bolton what seemed like all that time ago. She'd also decided to get involved with him more intimately that she should have, knowing the many consequences for the choices she was making. So when she'd gotten her heart broken by that same Troy Bolton she'd been warned so many times about, she didn't have anyone to blame but herself for her misfortune and unhappiness.

She'd wanted so badly for him to change. She'd wanted to be the one he would change for. She'd wanted to take a leap of faith with him, walk on the wild side with someone she wouldn't normally be with and someone that people wouldn't want her around. She hadn't expected to actually fall in love with him or that this would be the way things would turn out in response to his rejection of her attempts to get that same love in return.

Maybe it would have been heathier to just shut people out and cry and just have one of those teenage girl moments, but here she was, becoming a totally different person. She though she liked it. She needed to get out.

There was a banging on the door and Gabriella looked up at it, not making any efforts to go to it. "Fucking hell baby, what are you doing in there?" Darius' voice came through the frame. She sat and chose to ignore him, head falling back against the side of the tub as she contemplated her life in reference to her surroundings. "Open the door girl," he spoke again, the door knob ratting in conjunction with his hand shaking it from the other side. Gabriella was somewhat thankful she'd had enough thought to lock it.

"Open the fucking door, bitch."

Gabriella could only sit on the floor and laugh at the fact that she'd got herself in this situation. It wasn't funny, but this was the only way she could honestly react.

"Fucking…baby…Gabriella…you gotta…fucking open the door! You're playing games with me! God, I just…I want you so much and you just keep….open the door!" He was banging now with emphasis and Gabriella, slightly sobering up, prayed that he couldn't get the door open.

"Leave me alone," she called out.

"I can't! I can't do that. I…you owe me you fucking tease! I been supplying you and you haven't paid your debt yet."

"Go away," she moaned in desperation.

More banging ensued, harder now. Gabriella had curled herself into a ball against the toilet, wrapping her arms around her knees as tears started to fall at the realization of just how much trouble she'd gotten herself into.

The banging continued as she rocked herself, unable to control her heightened emotions as she kept crying, silently pleading to get away from it all. There was another bang, followed by a crack that was deafening, sending Gabriella spirally.

"Just stop!" She screamed, but continued to hear him banging, shouting expletives and threats at her, and the wood slowly but surely giving way to his force.

It was another few seconds of noise, before all that Gabriella could hear was herself crying. Realizing that Darius' seemed to have stopped, she looked up, seeing the door practically in shambles, but somehow stilled attached to its hinges and locked, blocking her in.

One more bang would startled her and have her screaming before she saw the figure who'd broken the door and stood in the bathroom before her. "Troy?" She cried in surprise, tears staining her cheeks as they flowed freely from her eyes still, her body still shaking in shock.

Troy walked into the bathroom, not bothering to try to get a good look at Gabriella. He knew for a fact what this experience does to you and he did not want to focus on that with her. He wanted her out. He reached for her, pulling her up off the floor and into his arms, but she immediately fought him.

"Stoppit! Don't touch me!" Her hands, balled into fists came out and flailed towards his chest.

"Gabriella…"

"Get off me! You don't want me! Don't touch me!" It seemed as if her words became louder, but her movements weakened. "Please," she pleaded, hands giving up as they fell to her sides, knees giving out in the same moment, but Troy was quick to make sure she didn't hit the floor. "Please, help me."

As he held her up, it took a lot for Troy to keep his demeanor as he took in hers. It took a lot to really upset him, nothing had done so for years, but having this frail girl in his arms who he'd grown to care for, despite what anyone else thought, begging for help, help from a situation he knew that he'd ultimately had part in putting her in, and he broke.

"I got you," he said, a single tear slipping down his cheek as he grabbed hold of her more securely and brought them out of the bathroom and out of the house. "I'm so sorry, Gabriella, but I've got you now."


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

_**Chapter 22! One more chapter and then I have a surprise for you before I finish No Good. Not much to say tho, so I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a REVIEW because yes they do make me very happy.**_

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

_She sat on the cold, dirty floor, staring at the toilet, wondering in the back of her mind if she was seeing blood of feces and trying to figure out whether she had enough energy and stableness to make it out of here. She needed to go, that she knew. She didn't need to be here right now, that she also knew. However, with the in between of normal Gabriella and drugged up Gabriella at odds, fighting herself, she didn't know how she would accomplish anything._

_Gabriella would have loved to put the blame of her current position on anyone but herself, but she knew better than that. She'd made these decisions on her on. She'd decided to seek out Troy Bolton what seemed like all that time ago. She'd also decided to get involved with him more intimately that she should have, knowing the many consequences for the choices she was making. So when she'd gotten her heart broken by that same Troy Bolton she'd been warned so many times about, she didn't have anyone to blame but herself for her misfortune and unhappiness. _

_She'd wanted so badly for him to change. She'd wanted to be the one he would change for. She'd wanted to take a leap of faith with him, walk on the wild side with someone she wouldn't normally be with and someone that people wouldn't want her around. She hadn't expected to actually fall in love with him or that this would be the way things would turn out in response to his rejection of her attempts to get that same love in return._

_Maybe it would have been heathier to just shut people out and cry and just have one of those teenage girl moments, but here she was, becoming a totally different person. She though she liked it. She needed to get out._

_**xx**_

"_Just stop!" She screamed, but continued to hear him banging, shouting expletives and threats at her, and the wood slowly but surely giving way to his force._

_It was another few seconds of noise, before all that Gabriella could hear was herself crying. Realizing that Darius' seemed to have stopped, she looked up, seeing the door practically in shambles, but somehow stilled attached to its hinges and locked, blocking her in._

_One more bang would startled her and have her screaming before she saw the figure who'd broken the door and stood in the bathroom before her. "Troy?" She cried in surprise, tears staining her cheeks as they flowed freely from her eyes still, her body still shaking in shock._

_Troy walked into the bathroom, not bothering to try to get a good look at Gabriella. He knew for a fact what this experience does to you and he did not want to focus on that with her. He wanted her out. He reached for her, pulling her up off the floor and into his arms, but she immediately fought him._

"_Stoppit! Don't touch me!" Her hands, balled into fists came out and flailed towards his chest. _

"_Gabriella…"_

"_Get off me! You don't want me! Don't touch me!" It seemed as if her words became louder, but her movements weakened. "Please," she pleaded, hands giving up as they fell to her sides, knees giving out in the same moment, but Troy was quick to make sure she didn't hit the floor. "Please, help me_

**I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.**

**~Martin Luther King, Jr.**

Chapter 22

Gabriella awoke with a start, sitting up abruptly and gasping frantically for air. Her hair was matted to her head and she was covered in a thin layer of sweat, eyes bloodshot as she looked around the dark room trying to adjust to the night and figure out her surroundings.

She was panting heavily, ready to stand from her position on the bed when a hand came in contact with hers and stopped her from having the panic attack she knew was to come.

Turning, her eyes adjusted just in time to see Troy lying next to her. They were in his bed, in his apartment, she noted, calming down as she looked at him, his blue eyes standing out in the darkness as they held her own, never breaking away from their gaze.

Slowly but surely, Troy didn't even have to do anything, he just kept his hand where he'd placed it on hers, and Gabriella calmed down drastically. She shifted so that she was back in a laying position rather than sitting up and she and Troy were face to face, eye to eye.

"You okay?" He asked once it seemed her breathing had calmed and her heart stopped trying to beat out of her chest.

She shook her head no, keeping her eyes on him.

"Right here, right now, forgetting everything else. Looking right at me and in this moment, how do you feel?"

"Safe," she whispered.

"Come here," he said, hand finding her waist and pulling her closer, something she didn't object to. It felt good to be close to him again. To be curled up against his chest, feeling skin on skin contact because he refused to wear a shirt to bed. She'd missed this in the short time that they were apart.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I never meant to…"

"What are you apologizing for?"

She sighed, tucking her face into his neck. He'd wanted her to look at him, but she was struggling with him, so he knew better than to fight her on it.

"For getting myself into so much trouble. I was stupid and id..."

"Everyone is entitled to mistakes, Gabriella."

"Not like this."

"Yes, like this. Take if from a fellow addict. It sucks because it's a mistake that you pay heavily for, but you can always come back from it. You just have to want to."

She swallowed as his use of the term. "You…you think I'm an addict?"

Troy slowly pulled back, smoothing some of her sweaty hair to rest behind her ear. "What would you call it?"

"A mistake?" She questioned so innocently that Troy couldn't resist pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"Now you know better than that."

She nodded. "I know, but…"

"First step is admitting."

She shook her head. "Since when did you become an expert?"

Troy shrugged. "I've always known, but just like you, I didn't want to hear it or admit it. But I think it's time we be honest with ourselves."

Gabriella buried herself deeper into Troy's embrace. "Can we be honest tomorrow, I still feel like shit."

He laughed a little, not really because it was funny, but because of the irony of the situation. "It is tomorrow and you'll probably still feel like shit 2 days from now, especially when you're coming down and going through withdrawals, but if you say so."

"I just don't want to face it yet. Can we just take a day, me and you and just…lay here?"

"As much as I want to," Troy started. "You and I both know, we need to get help. Help is not gonna come laying in my bed."

Gabi pulled away from him for a second to look at the clock on wall. "Can we get help at a decent hour? It's 6am."

He smiled through the darkness. "That's fair," he agreed.

There was a couple of moments of silence before Troy broke it again. "Brie?" He said softly, not sure if she had fallen asleep in the short moments or not. Gabriella, whose heart had sped up at the use of her nickname from his lips again, had taken a little longer to answer him.

"Mm?"

"I just really want you to know something, before you go back to sleep."

Although she was awake, her eyes were getting heavy as she nodded as if Troy could see her in the dark. He could feel her movements, however.

"I love you," he said making her eyes suddenly widen as the unexpected statement. She didn't move though, she stayed still, her head resting on his chest as he stroked her back, his head on top of hers. "I want to be clean for you. I've wanted it for so long, I just never wanted to admit it. So I'm going to make you this promise. I'm getting as long as you do too. We can do it together."

She hadn't said anything, so Troy had assumed she fallen asleep. He went to get comfortable again just went he felt her lips at his throat and her small whisper of 'I love you too' before content where they were, feel asleep in each other's arm, Troy's promise and their declaration of love still lingering in the air.

Things were far from okay, and maybe it might not be okay, but the more you worked on something the better it got. A declaration of promise was far from the actual doing, but it was a step, a step Troy was willing to take and they were willing to take together. So with that, there was hope that things could be okay. Maybe not perfect, but depends on whose definition of perfect.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**_So yeah this is the last chapter. And yes I'm a little sad that another story has ended, but at the same time, it's nice to have it under my belt so that I can move on and focus on another. I have a surprise for you guys and I'll say nothing else about it but to expect it around Tuesday. So until then, please leave a REVIEW with your honest opinion about the ending and keep in mind when reading that I didn't mean it to seem rushed, but there's only so much you can do with a story once you get to a certain point. Plus like I said, I'm a little ready to move on. Feel like I've been writing this FOREVER!_**

**_Anyway, enjoy!_**

* * *

First Bad Habit

_**Previously**_

"_Right here, right now, forgetting everything else. Looking right at me and in this moment, how do you feel?"_

"_Safe," she whispered._

"_Come here," he said, hand finding her waist and pulling her closer, something she didn't object to. It felt good to be close to him again. To be curled up against his chest, feeling skin on skin contact because he refused to wear a shirt to bed. She'd missed this in the short time that they were apart._

"_I'm sorry," she said. "I never meant to…"_

"_What are you apologizing for?"_

_She sighed, tucking her face into his neck. He'd wanted her to look at him, but she was struggling with him, so he knew better than to fight her on it._

"_For getting myself into so much trouble. I was stupid and id..."_

"_Everyone is entitled to mistakes, Gabriella."_

_**xx**_

"_I love you," he said making her eyes suddenly widen as the unexpected statement. She didn't move though, she stayed still, her head resting on his chest as he stroked her back, his head on top of hers. "I want to be clean for you. I've wanted it for so long, I just never wanted to admit it. So I'm going to make you this promise. I'm getting as long as you do too. We can do it together."_

_She hadn't said anything, so Troy had assumed she fallen asleep. He went to get comfortable again just went he felt her lips at his throat and her small whisper of 'I love you too' before content where they were, feel asleep in each other's arm, Troy's promise and their declaration of love still lingering in the air._

**Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.**

** ~Leo Buscaglia**

Chapter 23

Gabriella stood quietly when it was her turn to share. After taking a deep breath, she managed a smile as she looked out at the people staring at her.

"My name is Gabriella Montez and I'm an addict, 2 years clean." Letting out the breath, she continued. "It started innocently enough when I was in high school, but dates back to when I was 12. When I was 12, my father decided he'd much rather be with someone who was twice my age rather than my mother. He left us and it affected me more than I liked to let on. I felt abandoned and unwanted. From then on, I lived in the shadow of my big brother, but when I was 17, I made the big decision that I didn't want that anymore. I met this guy and no matter how fascinated I was by him, everyone else was so convinced that he was this terrible guy and no good would come from hanging around him. Naturally, as a teenage girl who was just dying to be someone other than the good girl, something other than Andrew's innocent little kid sister, I didn't listen."

Being with him was hands down one of the best thing I've ever experienced. I was convinced through getting to know him that people were wrong about him, they didn't know him as well as I had gotten to know him and they didn't have any say in what happened between us. He was an addict too and before you think he changed me, I changed myself because of him. At first, it started out with me wanting him to change, not because I couldn't handle him being an addict, but because I knew he could be better, do better and I wanted to save him, help him to get something better in his life. But in life you can't always get what you want."

Things changed, we didn't always see eye to eye, and I ended up with the same feeling as when my dad left, something I never wanted to feel again, something I had promised myself I would never let myself feel again. I didn't want to admit it, but I loved him. When things ended up going south, it was like I was 12 all over again, watching my dad walk out the door as he told me 'whatever' and walked away from my house. And I lost myself when that happened. I was hurt and beyond messed up and I let myself fall into the trap. The trap that felt so good. Drugs, alcohol, partying, all of these caused me to change and lose who I really was to become something I'd fought so hard not to be."

But someone had saved me. The last person I ever thought would or could come to my rescue had saved me from myself. He'd helped me cope with my feelings and understand what I wanted and most importantly he cared about what would happen to me. He made me a promise 2 years ago that he would get clean if I would, and here I am today, and I can never be more grateful for him than I am."

Finishing off, the room erupted in applause and she smiled slightly embarrassed as she searched through the hundreds of faces she saw until she found Troy's face in the crowd, a smile on his own face as he clapped as well mouthing 'you did good to her' as she calmed her crazed heart and realized that she finally did it.

~FBH~

Gabriella walked into her home a few hours later to find her mother and brother happily having a discussion in the kitchen. Her mother turned excitedly towards her when she realized her daughter has walked in.

"Oh, mija! How did the convention go? Tell me all about it."

Gabi was quick to dodge her mother. "Put the knife down first, mami."

Isabella rolled her eyes, but none the less, did as her daughter asked and quickly wiped her hands on her apron as well. "Now come on, tell us! We're dying to know. I'm still upset that you didn't want us there."

"Mom is dying to know," Drew added. "I mean I still want to know but I'm not d_ying_…"

"Hush, Andrew," their mother countered. "Gabi…"

"It was just something I had to do alone. I didn't want you guys there making me nervous. But it was good mom, really good. It felt weird, talking to people about it, but I'm glad I did it. Not only does it help me, but it helps others too by hearing my story and hearing my struggle."

"You know I'm proud of you, right," her mother said with a wide smile.

"Of me?"

"Yes!"

"You sure?"

"Mija!" Isabella laughed. "Believe it or not, which clearly you have chosen not to, I am very proud of you baby. We both are, right Drew?" She looked at her son, but he was busy stuffing his face.

"Huh?"

She shook her head. "Never mind him, but we are! Sweet heart both of you have been through a lot and I always thought it was my fault your father left. I wondered what I did wrong to make him leave and I hated myself when you blamed yourself because I felt there was a way I could have avoided it…"

"It has nothing to do with you. Never did. I'm thankful for you mami. You were always there when he wasn't and you're still here and I know I worried you a lot the past 2 years or so, but I never meant to and I'm just glad you decided to work with me instead of writing me off."

"I would hope you would know better of me than to do that. Never, sweetie, never!" Isabella was quick to pull her daughter into her arms. "I'm so proud of the situations you've overcome and all that you been working towards accomplishing these past 2 years. You are amazing, mi hija, and don't you ever forget it or doubt otherwise, no matter what anyone tells you. You've had a few bumps along the way, but those bumps have made you who you are and you should take them and wear them like scars, imperfections you've learned from."

"Thank you," she said with a small smile. She then walked over to her brother and shoved him, lightly enough to move him but not enough to push him off the chair. "And you!"

He looked at her wide eyed and unexpecting. "What the fuck did I do?"

"Andrew!" His mother scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Drew sighed. "I may be of legal age to do anything I want, but not in my mothers' house because there are rules."

Isabella smiled proudly, picked up her knife and went back to preparing dinner, while Gabriella attempted to stifle a laugh as she sat down next to Drew.

"I was saying that I thank you too, big brother."

Drew wiped his mouth from the last bite of his burger. "For what?"

Gabriella shrugged. "For always looking out for me. I know I was hard-headed and acted pretty annoyed with you half the time, but I really did appreciate all you've ever done for me even if I didn't show it."

Drew nodded. "I mean, you don't ever have to thank me for that Gabs. It's my job to protect you, especially with our situation. If dad wasn't gonna do it, I had to step up to the plate. It's bad enough that you've had to have that experience with him leaving, but I'm not gonna let you face this crazy world by yourself."

"You had to go through it too. You didn't have to do all of that by yourself."

"I didn't," he countered. "I've had you and mom; two of the best people I could have ever asked for in my life. You'll always be my number one's, even when I've decided to go off into the world."

"And when will that be?" Isabella questioned, listening in on the sibling moment the two were having.

"Ma…" Drew went to start, but Isabella held up her hand.

"I was just asking, you're 21 now, done with college…"

"I'm working on it."

"Uh huh," came her reply.

Drew rolled his eyes. "Back to what I was saying. I get it Gabi and yeah I know sometimes I could have acted a little extra…"

"A little?" Gabriella said, a smirk forming on her face.

"Okay, Jesus, can you let me finish? You guys always do that!"

Both women in the room were trying to contain their laughter.

"ANYWAY, it was all for a good purpose and I hope you see that now."

"I do, and that's why I want to thank you. Don't ever stop being my annoying, overprotective big brother because I love it."

Drew smiled and held his arms out. "Bring it in!"

Gabriella eyed him for a second, he closed his eyes and smiled warmly, arms extended towards her. Then she shrugged, figuring why the hell not and in the next moment she was pressed into her brothers side, hugging him tightly.

"And for what it's worth. Troy actually didn't turn out to be that bad. After seeing what you went through, it made it easier to understand him."

"Aww, Drew! That means a lot!"

"Okay," he said disconnecting them. "Now get away from me before you turn me into a big softy."

Gabriella was slightly started at the way he pushed her away before going back to his food, but she just smiled and proceeded to drop a quick, sweet kiss to his cheek before disappearing, leaving him to eat content and Isabella happily cook.

Gabriella disappeared up the stairs and into her room, flopping down on the bed and loosing herself deep in thought. The 2 year battle had been a tough one for her. After holding Troy to his promise he'd made to her, life became a little bit easier. Together they'd gone to counseling and rehab and so much had changed in the course of 2 years. Troy graduated a year before Gabriella and opted to go straight to work instead of college. He'd gotten a job as a unit supply specialist at a big warehouse that he has to travel 30 minutes to everyday, which wasn't too bad. He spent his days doing hard work and getting his hands dirty, but at the end of the day it was a job and he was making $15 an hour because a job like that was in high demand. No one else wanted to do it, so he'd taken in and been happy with it, especially since he'd only needed a high school diploma to get it and nothing more. He'd moved into a new apartment using some money the state had given him following his graduation and his getting clean, so there was another plus side.

A year later, Gabriella followed a different path. She didn't attend Stanford like she'd originally wanted, but instead decided to stay close to home and follow her brothers' footsteps in attended UofA, taking an interest in interior design with the hopes of getting a decent job when she was finished. Her decision to stay at home came from the understanding that it was easier to be in her hometown with the people she trusted the most around her for support in resist temptations she was sure would be present if she had gone all the way to California and stayed on campus with her peers. She was also working, but only part time at a local coffee shop in order to help offset the cost of loans for college. Once she'd saved up a little bit of change she was planning to move out, but until then it seemed her mother was happy to have her as well as Drew.

Drew had finished school, gotten his own apartment, although he rarely ever stayed in it because he was home so much. He was still in the process of looking for a full time job in his field, but had settled to working part time in the meantime, right now as a waiter at Red Lobster's. However, if nothing came through in the next 6 months, he'd be contemplating seeing if Troy could put in a good word for him down at the warehouse.

Gabriella had just sat up and reached for her phone when there was a knocking on her bedroom window. Sitting up with a smile, she wandered over to the window and pulled it open, not surprised at the face that popped in the opening as soon as she did.

Troy was quick in sticking his head inside her window and pressing his lips to hers. Gabriella kissed back, hands still on the window frame as Troy slowly climbed in, his lips never leaving hers as he hands fell to grip at her waistline. He walked her backwards and away from the window, not parting until he had pushed her so she fell back softly onto her bed.

"What's all of this?" she asked, finally have air.

"Just saying hey," he responded with a grin.

"That was a very enthusiastic hey," she smiled, hands playing with the hair on the back of his neck.

"Mmm, well you deserved it after today."

Gabriella leaned back on the bed, hair splaying out around her while Troy leaned over her on his knees, arms caging her in. "It wasn't that serious."

"It was though. You did really well up there speaking."

Gabriella shook her head. "It should have been you. You're much better at speaking than I am. Plus you've been dealing with it longer."

"Doesn't mean anything. They asked you. And you did really great."

"If you say so."

"I do! So hush!"

Gabriella giggled, hands pulling him down and closer to her. "Well I like my men demanding."

"Is that so?" He questioned, lips dangerously close to hers.

"Mhmm, my own personal bad boy," she finished before their lips connected.

"Gabi, did you…" Drew paused in the door frame, hand still on the door. Gabriella turned her head to the door and Troy move his head from here, leaning away slightly.

"Drew…"

"Never mind…"

"Wait…"

"Use protection!" he called back and he left out of the room, leaving Troy laughing and Gabriella confused.

"Well that was better than how he usually acts."

"I'm very concerned."

"I'm sure he is too. Now where were we?"

"Troy!" Gabriella pushed at his chest.

"What?"

She huffed. "Can we have a serious moment?"

He looked genuinely confused. "I thought were were…"

"Without making out."

He narrowed his eyes for a second before moving his hands and collapsing onto the bed next to her. "Okay time for a serious conversation, what's up?"

"I just want to tell you I'm extremely grateful for you and everything that you've done for me."

"I haven't done anything…"

"Don't say that, because you have and you know it. I know you always think that you were the cause of a lot but if I hadn't met you, if we hadn't gone through all of this, I would have still been here denying that my father leaving had affected me. So yeah, it wasn't exactly the right path I took to get where I am today, but I am okay and I'm doing better and I do have you to thank for that in some way."

"I know a way you can thank me," he suggested with a smirk that Gabriella rolled her eyes at and ignored. "But really, I'm glad you think I was a help, but it was all you with some crazy misfortunates in between. But I'm thankful I was here with you throughout it and that we were both able to do this together, be there for each other."

"I'm glad I found you," she whispered, moving closer to him and settling halfway on his chest.

"I'm glad I eventually got over thinking you were annoying," Troy commented.

Gabriella gasped. "You thought I was annoying?"

Troy instantly shook her head, arms moving to wrap around her. "No…?"

"Bolton," she started to warn but he cut her off.

"I love you," he said, knowing that the statement made her weak. "I love you too," she responded with a kiss. "Even if you were a bad habit."

"Bad habit?" He questioned as she moved away from him and stood up, heading to her bedroom door. She turned back and smirked at him, to which he frowned. "No fair, tease!"

"I think dinner's ready. You staying to eat?" She asked sauntering out of the room, Troy following unhappily.

It was a lot, the past 2-3 years, for everyone involved, especially Troy and Gabriella. When people asked, she did consider Troy her bad habit, in a good way, something that would change her life forever. Because given the chance to go back, she wouldn't change a thing. A person has so many lessons to learn in their life and this was just one of hers, one that she would cherish and honor for the rest of her days.


End file.
